The anarcho-communist dream of Barcelona, 1936.
Tags: Communism, War History, History, Anarchism, Spanish Civil War

On the 17th of July 1936 a fascist rising, planned and led by important army generals such as Mola and Yagüe, took place in the Spanish cities of Melilla, Tetuán and Ceuta. A day later, the coup d’état had spread to the rest of the Spanish peninsula. Members of the Spanish army were expected by the leaders of the coup to take up arms against the democratic government of the Second Spanish Republic, which was led by a leftist coalition, the Frente Popular (Popular Front). This rising would lead to the start of the Spanish Civil War.

The army commander in Barcelona, Francisco Llano de la Encomienda, positioned himself against the fascist rising. Groups of soldiers, however, took up arms and seized control of parts of the city. These soldiers were quickly defeated by civilians. Barcelona, a city bursting with anarchist and communist activists and fighters, had silenced fascism in only 24 hours. Not only that, but all of Catalunya had managed to stop the coup and push back the rising fascist forces.

“Catalonia defeated fascism in 24 hours. Catalonia took the enemy 150km from its limits. Catalonia is and always will be the base of antifascist resistance.” Anti-fascist poster from 1936.

The failure of the coup in Barcelona led to the establishment of a communist and anarchist haven in the capital city (and the rest of the autonomous region). Trade Unions led by the socialist UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores: General Workers’ Union) and the anarchist CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo: National Confederation of Labour) took control of most of the Catalan economy sectors, especially in Barcelona. The sectors included those of railways, cabs, buses, shipping, electric light, power companies, the Spanish National telephone company, mills, mines, factories, theatres, restaurants, bars, hotels… Around 70 to 80% of business and companies were collectivized in the capital city.

Workers replaced middle and high class owners and retailers. Fancy hotels became the headquarters of the CNT, the UGT, the POUM (Partido Obrero de la Unificación Marxista: Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification), and other political parties and workers’ unions. Workers’ committees were created to manage the new economy. Houses and mansions (such as the Pedralbes Palace and the Golferichs House) which once belonged to the Catalan bourgeoisie were turned into public, free, universities and schools. La Internacional was played all around the city. Workers refused tips.

The Colón Hotel being used as the HQ of the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (PSUC: United Socialist Party of Catalonia). Picture by Antoni Campañà, 1936.

The socialist and anarchist unions and the Catalan government, led by Lluís Companys, worked together to establish an autonomous region controlled by the workers, for the workers. Smaller factories were closed down to focus on the bigger ones, which were better equipped and assured better working conditions for the workers. All companies with more than 100 workers were collectivized, and those with fewer than a 100 could vote for or against collectivisation. Despite the differences between anarchists and communists, Emma Goldman, a Russian anarchist activist who wrote about the Catalan situation, attested that industrial productivity doubled in all of Catalunya. George Orwell, a British writer who served with the POUM Militia during the Spanish Civil War wrote about what he saw in Barcelona in his famous book Homage to Catalonia:

“It was the first time I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle. Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties; almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here and there were being systematically demolished by gangs of workmen. Every shop and café had an inscription saying that it had been collectivised; even the bootblacks had been collectivised and their boxes painted red and black. Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal.”

Barcelona in 1936. Picture by Antoni Campañà.

Barcelona in 1936 by Antoni Campañà. The flag is the Estelada, the Catalan Independentist flag, heavily influenced by the Cuban flag.

Anarchist poster designers. The poster reads “Free women”, which was an anarchist feminist women’s organization. The organization had up to 30k members and focused on setting up schools to educate women and talk prostitutes out of their working situation. Picture by Pérez de Rozas.

Armed leftist civilians. Picture by Pérez de Rozas.

Barricade made with corpses of horses. Taken during the 18th/19th of July 1936 fightings by Agustí Centelles.

CNT Militia men and women . Women were allowed to join militias, but were rarely sent to the front line (no more than one thousand fought at the front). Picture by Pérez de Rozas.

Catalan children play in Barcelona, 1936. Picture by Antoni Campañà.

Class solidarity, however, was not enough to keep anarchists and communists from fighting over their political opinions. From the 3rd to the 8th of May 1937, a series of violent clashes occurred between the Barcelona anarchists and communists (which were also divided between stalinists and anti-stalinists). A cease-fire was agreed and pacts with the Catalan government were made, but the situation would never be that of the first months of the Spanish Civil War again.

All through the first months of 1938, Barcelona was bombed by the fascist Italian forces, allies of Franco, now the leader of the Spanish fascist rebels. Thousands of civilians lost their lives, and hundreds of buildings were destoyed. With the taking of Barcelona by the fascist forces on January 26th 1939, the anarchist and communist haven that had been built in the capital city of Catalunya saw its final end. Five days of looting and extrajudicial killings were carried out by the Nationalists (Franco’s forces). Once the Fascist government was established in Catalunya, the co-official status of Catalan (the regional language) was removed, the Catalan autonomy was abolished, Catalan names were banned and Sardana (a musical genre typical of catalan culture) was prohibited. Schools could not teach in Catalan anymore, and newspapers were requisitioned.

Lluís Companys, who had been the president of the Catalan government during the Spanish Civil War was captured by the Gestapo in 1940 and handed over to Franco’s government. He was held at the headquarters of the State Security in Madrid for five weeks, where he was continously tortured. Companys was brought back to Barcelona and sentenced to death after a less than 1 hour long military trial. Refusing to wear a blindfold and looking directly at his executioners, Lluís Companys was shot and killed on the 15th of October 1940 at Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona. He shouted “Per Catalunya! (For Catalonia!)” moments before he was executed. He is the only president in the history of European democracies to be executed by a firing squad.