A-Infos (en) Italy, Sicilia Libertaria #470 - SPAIN AND THE REVOLUTION - A Wound Still Open (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Ninety years after the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution on July 19, 
1936, what remains of the most important and widespread anarchist 
experiment ever? We reflect on this by offering two articles. With the 
first, published by Pippo Gurrieri in the July-August 2016 Special (With 
Spain in the Heart) for the 80th anniversary of the revolution, we begin 
to celebrate this newspaper's 50th anniversary. In the second, by Natale 
Musarra, we attempt a brief excursus on the "founding" ideas of the 
Spanish Revolution through Diego Abad de Santillán's major theoretical 
text, El organismo economico de la revolución (The Economic Organism of 
the Revolution), published in 1936 and updated over the following two 
years, but still unpublished in Italian
.
A still-open wound.

Spain-the libertarian, revolutionary, anti-fascist Spain-resonated with 
me from my first anarchist readings, in the summer of 1971. The defeat 
of the civil war had occurred just 32 years earlier, when, for long 
months, something closely resembling anarchy had been achieved during a 
bitter social revolution. This was enough to provide an eloquent 
definition of the concept of utopia, the same one our adversaries 
reproached us for dreaming beyond reality. Anarchy, however, was a 
concrete fact, a theory corroborated by historical experience, with many 
witnesses and protagonists still alive, defeated by fascism, Stalinist 
betrayal, and opportunism.
Our Spain was an open and bleeding wound, due to the ways in which it 
had been inflicted and the guerrilla epic that prevented it from 
healing, keeping it fresh and vibrant right in the heart of every 
individual animated by libertarian sensibilities.
I can say that my political development (and probably that of many other 
contemporary anarchists) has coexisted with an immense love for Spain.
In 1971, when I joined the movement, the Franco dictatorship still 
dominated the glorious Iberian land; international campaigns for the 
release of our political prisoners or to prevent death sentences were 
constant; the Spanish libertarian exile, however divided, in France and 
the rest of the world was preparing for its return; only the exploits of 
ETA had replaced, in the media coverage, those of the libertarian 
guerrillas, which from 1939 to the late 1960s had almost undisputedly 
dominated the scene (and not only the media).
And being an anarchist in Ragusa meant shining under the light of the 
Hispanic torch: one of the first Spaniards I met was Antonio Tèllez, who 
came to the city in late 1971 for the imminent publication of his 
biographical book on Sabatè.
Some might call it a history textbook today; but in 1972, just 12 years 
after the death of "Quico" and 15 years after that of Facerìas, this was 
pure current affairs, fueled by the tireless efforts of Franco Leggio, 
who was, yes, Tèllez's editor, but above all an "accomplice," a 
supporter, someone, in short, who had had a hand in the Spanish 
guerrilla warfare-and how!-and who bore the accusation of "Spagnolitis" 
leveled against him twenty years earlier by sectors of the movement more 
accustomed to small talk. And after Tèllez, many other friends and 
comrades of the Iberian libertarian dispora passed through the city.
Spain: the great shattered dream, the revolution that touched the sky, 
the missed opportunity that would have changed the world, and perhaps 
prevented the Second World War, the rebellious spirit, consistent to the 
point of exhaustion, of thousands upon thousands of anarchist 
proletarians who sacrificed themselves, first to block fascism, then to 
build a society that expropriated private property, collectivized it, 
and managed itself, to finally continue that dream clandestinely through 
a thousand attempted insurrections, sabotages, actions, and feats that 
it would be inappropriate to call heroic, because these were ordinary 
people waging a normal struggle, carrying in their minds and hearts 
ideas-extraordinary ones indeed-worth fighting and dying for.
With them were volunteers from all over the world, anti-fascists, 
communists, socialists, anarchists, and even a fine band of Sicilians, 
some of whom remained there forever, having died in the battles to 
reclaim meters of land from fascism.
In 1977 I went to Barcelona for the first time; The regime had recently 
fallen; mine was a tour of the headquarters and circles of the rebuilt 
CNT, among old and young anarchists, in a blossoming of dreams and hopes 
that rekindled the flame that made Anarchy and Spain an indissoluble union.
There are many books on revolutionary Spain, many are rightly 
problematic, critical, and self-critical; others tell collective and 
individual stories. But there is one I have always recommended to 
comrades, the book every anarchist should keep on their bedside table: 
"Durruti and the Spanish Revolution" by Abel Paz, alias Diego Camacho, a 
friend of Franco Leggio, who also passed through Ragusa several times.
His book captures all the courage, self-sacrifice, passion, and courage 
of the Spanish revolutionaries; it captures all the evocative power of 
Iberian anarchism, a true torch for an entire world yearning to free 
itself from the chains of oppression. There's the enthusiasm for the 
victories and the despair for the defeats. Even if the story's ending is 
well known, retracing it is beneficial, a tonic, a panacea, which makes 
the difficulties of our daily activism seem trivial.
"Spain in the heart," sang George Moustaki; exactly like that: it enters 
you and never leaves. And all it takes is a new book, a comic, a Ken 
Loach film, to make your heart beat faster, to make this wound that 
every libertarian carries in his chest burn, a sign of recognition, 
indelible, deep.
And if that precious daughter of mine is named Blanca, it's because the 
female character in "Land and Freedom," namely our Spain struck in the 
chest by fascism and from behind by Stalinism, can represent, for her 
first and for all of us, a living hope, a sincere wish, a utopia to 
believe in because it is authentic and real.

Pippo Gurrieri

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