Durruti Column The Durruti Column ( Spanish : " Columna Durruti " ) was the largest anarchist column formed during the Spanish Civil War ( its number came to about 6 , 000 people ) . During the first months of the war it came to be the most recognized and popular military organisations fighting at the republican side . It is one of the best known symbols of the anarchist movement in Spain and its struggle for creating an egalitarian society based on collectivism and individualism . The column include people from all over the world . One of the best - known Catholic philosophers of the 20th century , Simone Weil fought alongside with Buenaventura Durruti in the Durruti Column . Her memories and experiences from the war can be found in one of her books , " Écrits historiques et politiques " . Formation . The column formed in Barcelona where , on 18 July 1936 , the anarchists fought against the General Goded and his armies . The government had not done anything to protect the city from the uprising of the army under the command of General Franco , Barcelona was left undefended . Being aware of that , anarchist and communist organisations such as CNT - FAI along with Unión General de Trabajadores ( UGT ) , the Workers ' Party of Marxist Unification ( POUM ) and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia ( PSUC ) in danger of the incoming attack of the military forces organised themselves into militia units and took weapons from arsenals ( they had support of the people responsible for these places , mostly non - commissioned officers ) . During this day some of the militarists joined the anarchist cause and aided them in the fight . The next day in the morning the anarchists attacked the Atarazanas barracks under the command of Buenaventura Durruti , one of the most popular and best recognized leader of Federación Anarquista Ibérica . The headquarters of the Durruti Column was at Bujaraloz . When the force was 6000 men . Several centuries contained foreigners : Advance . The anarchists started to take Catalonia back from the hands of the Franquists . They were headed towards Zaragoza controlled by General Emilio Mola and the Durruti column , concentrating 2 , 000 people at that time contrary to other units did not stop too much to liberate the countryside , they were moving only towards the city , mostly because of the lack of proper maps . They fought their first battle in Caspe , a city located about 100 kilometers southeast of Zaragoza . There they encountered a small group of militiamen fighting fascists commanded by Captain Negrete from Guardia Civil . While leaving Barcelona there were about 2 , 500 people in the column but before they got to Zaragoza their number increased to 6 , 000 . The advance stopped near the city banks because of the Colonel Villalba , the leader of all the republican forces who convinced Durruti that if he had reclaimed Zaragoza , he may have been isolated from the rest of the fighters . Nowadays it is doubted if that was a good decision because of the superiority in numbers of the republican forces , but some state that in the event of open battle lack of weapons and supplies could have led to total disaster . Durruti installed his temporary headquarters in Bujaraloz . Waiting for the more convenient moment to attack Zaragoza turned out to be a grave mistake , because in passing of time the forces of Franco became more powerful there and made it impossible to reclaim the city . The offensive stopped at this point and there was no major battle . Most of the advances were small and were mostly initiated due to the actions of guerrillas . Durruti was concentrating himself on helping the collective . Death of Durruti . At the beginning of November 1936 Buenaventura Durruti with more than 3 , 000 people from the column directed themselves to Madrid . At the time the capital of Spain was in grave danger of being overtaken by the fascists and Federica Montseny convinced Durruti to leave Catalonia . His arrival to Madrid strengthened the morale of the inhabitants . He was ordered to defend and then started the offensive at Casa del Campo . Efficient in street battles , the militants had neither enough power nor experience to stand a chance against the disciplined and well - armed army from Morocco . Having suffered huge casualties the Durruti column escaped the battlefield . On the 19th of November Durruti was shot and died in the hospital after some time . The origins of the bullet are unknown , some say it was an action taken by the responsibility of the Soviet special forces , other that it was failure of Durruti ' s gun . The column was after commanded by Ricardo Sanz in Madrid and by Lucio Ruano on the Aragon Front . Colonel Romero had disagreements with anarchists , asked for the dismissal of Ricardo Sanz , proposed the dissolution of Durruti Column and the distribution of their men among other units . In January 1937 the new general delegate of the column José Manzana allowed the militarisation of the column which then became part of the 26th Division . After the Durruti Column . Due to the soviet forces growing in power , the other militias were organized into regular army and the Durruti Column was transformed into the 26th infantry division . After the war many of the fighters were either put in prison or executed . Those who survived and escaped to France which right before the World War II experienced rise of nationalist sentiments , were put into concentration camps . After the German invasion of France many of the former anarchist fighters played an important part in the French Resistance . Some managed to escape to different countries of Latin America and stayed there for the rest of their lives , sometimes even organising with the indigenous people mini - anarchist states in the jungle , as did Antonio García Barón . After the end of the World War II the former republican fighters experienced a huge disappointment . They hoped that the democratic countries would now liberate Spain from Franco ' s dictatorship . But even Mexico which was one of the most active helpers of the republicans and France after so much help refused to start fighting the dictator . Some of the anarchists , many of them former members of the Durruti Column decided to organise their own resistance . They had their headquarters in France , many times collaborated with later formed ETA and did not stop fighting until the end of the regime . Collectivisation . The collectivisation of the countryside started right after leaving Barcelona . Even though the column did not stop to liberate as much countries as other columns , due to its size , it created the majority of the libertarian communes . At the beginning there were some acts of violence and some people were forced to join the collectives . But it is said that Durruti himself defended the individualists who did not want to work share their land . Such people were left having as much land as they could cultivate with their families without any hired labour and could always join the collective . Depending on the place , the individualists could have been put under " more or less stronger " economical pressure to make them join the commune . Organisation . On 20 of July 1936 Durruti and other anarchists such as Juan García Oliver and Diego Abad de Santillán , participated in a meeting with Companys , the President of Catalonia . The next day , as the outcome of that meeting , they formed with other leftist organisations The Central Committee of the Antifascist Militias . Despite being in the majority they took only one third of the committees seats . The Committee was responsible for supplying and coordination of the actions different militias . After some time , it became dominated by the communists . The Durruti Column is said to be the first anarchist military formation with discipline based on solidarity and hierarchy but not based on privileges , only the orders to attack certain places . Durruti , as happened in other columns , agreed to have his own military advisor , in this case it was captain Enrique Perez Farras . Due to the lack of armaments the column did not engage in open battles and moved forward mostly thanks to small guerilla actions . Also in Bujaraloz , the place of the War Committee the fighters were provided with services such as : health care , food and mechanic support . Cultural references . The Durutti Column are an English post - punk band , who had moderate success in the late 1980s under the tuteledge of Tony Wilson ' s Factory label .