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Anarchism and Illegality in Barcelona, 1931–7

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Christopher Ealham
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A century ago Friedrich Engels reflected that if a European league for barricade-building was established, Barcelona would emerge in top position. The same deep rebellious traditions of the Catalan capital prompted the English hispanophile Gerald Brenan to describe Barcelona as ‘the most revolutionary city in Europe’. The 1930s confirmed this reputation: during the years assessed in this article barricades were thrown up in the working-class districts of Barcelona on at least eight different occasions. What is interesting, however, is that although the local authorities and business groups were understandably perturbed by the threat of social mobilisation, the proven capacity of the security forces to contain the challenge of the barricades meant that the danger of urban insurrection was not the greatest continuing worry of the ‘law-and-order’ lobby. Instead, the dominant concern of the self-proclaimed ‘lovers of order’ in Barcelona was the wave of armed illegality (atracaments) which rocked the city throughout the 1930s.1

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Articles
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Contemporary European History , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , July 1995 , pp. 133 - 151
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

1 This article is based on my ‘Policing the Recession: Unemployment, Social Protest and Law-and-Order in Republican Barcelona, 1931–1936’, PhD thesis, University of London (forth-coming)Google Scholar. Earlier drafts of this article have benefited from the criticism of Professor Paul Preston.

2 Solidaridad Obrera, 20 Nov. 1931; L'Opinió, 27 March, 6 April, 13 June, 12 July, 12 Aug. 1933; La Vanguardia, 29 April 1934; La Veu de Catalunya, 11, 17 April 1934.

3 ibid., 11 April 1934; petition from la Cambra Oficial de la Propietat, l'Asociació de Propietaris, el Gremi de Liquids, el Centre Gremial de Carboners and la Societat de Mestres Perruquers i Barbers to the Mayor of l'Hospitalet, 30 Sept. 1931; communiqué from El Cap Accidental de la Comissaria General d'Ordre Public de la Generalitat de Catalunya to the Major of L'Hospitalet, 7 Feb. 1934, Correspondència de l'Ajuntament de l'Hospitalet, 1931 and 1934, Arxiu Històric de l'Hospitalet (thereafter AHH).

4 L'Opinió, 1–15, 26 March, 6 April, 12 July 1933. The correspondence of the Republican Council in l'Hospitalet reveals that from the summer of 1931 onwards ERC councillors played an informal role within the local repressive structures, informing judges, Guardia Civil and police about trade union activists and ‘common criminals’, Correspondència de l'Ajuntament de l'Hospitalet, 1931, AHH. The antagonistic relationship between the ERC and the Barcelona proletariat sits uncomfortably with the ‘inter-classist’ interpretation of Enric Ucelay da Cal, La Catalunya Populista. Imatge, cultura i politica en l'etapa republicana (1931–1937) (Barcelona: Ediciones de La Magrana, 1982).Google Scholar

5 L'Opinió, 14–15, 26 March, 12 July 1933; Llibertat, 5 March 1933. Fomento Nacional de Trabajo, Memoria de la Junta Directiva correspondiente al ejercicio de 1934 (Barcelona: Viuda de L. Tasso, 1935), 7–8.Google Scholar For the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes and its origins see Luis Jiménez de Asúa, El estado peligroso. Nuevo fórmula para el tratamiento penal y preventativo (Madrid: Juan Pueyo, 1922)Google Scholar, idem, El nuevo derecho penal. Escuelas y códigos del presente y del porvenir (Madrid: Paez, 1929), idem, and Ley de Vagos y Maleantes, . Un ensayo legislativo sobre peligrosidad sin delito (Madrid: Reus, 1934).Google Scholar

6 L'Opinió, 11, 13, 18 Jan., 12 July 1933; La Publicitat, 10 April 1934. See also Ealham, Christopher, ‘Crime and Punishment in 1930s Barcelona’ (thereafter Ealham, ‘Crime’), History Today (Oct. 1993), 31–7.Google Scholar

7 L'Opinió, 24, 27 April 1933; El Socialista, 13 June 1931; La Vanguardia, 14 March 1933; Madrid, Francesc, Ocho meses y un dia en el gobierno civil de Barcelona (thereafter Madrid, Ocho Meses) (Barcelona: La Flecha, 1931), 171–2, 185–259.Google Scholar

8 Solidaridad Obrera, 9 Nov. 1932, 28 Jan., 17 Nov. 1933. For the socio-economic context within which the cultural universe of the Barcelona proletariat evolved see Ealham, Christopher, ‘Anarco-capitalistes, lumpenburgesía and the Origins of Anarchism in Catalonia’ (thereafter Ealham, ‘Anarco-capitalists’), ACIS, Vol. 7, no. 1 (1994), 50–6.Google Scholar

9 El Matí, 6 Sept. 1935; Solidaridad Obrera, 18, 24 April 1934, 1 Aug. 1933.

10 Paz, Abel, Durruti: The People Armed (Montréal: Black Rose, 1976), 67–80Google Scholar; Ferrer, Rai, Durruti, 1986–1936 (Barcelona: Planeta, 1985), 59–60.Google Scholar For a life of Juan García Oliver see his autobiography, El anarcosindicalismo … en la calle … en el Comité de Milicias … en el Gobierno … en el exilio (thereafter Oliver, Anarcosindicalismo) (Barcelona: Ruedo ibérico, 1978).

11 For the FAI see Casas, Juan Gómez, Anarchist Organisation. The History of the FAI (Montréal: Black Rose, 1986)Google Scholar, Sanz, Ricardo, El sindicalismo y la política. Los ‘solidarios’ y ‘nosotros’ (Toulouse: Imprimerie Dularier, 1966)Google Scholar, passim, García Oliver, Anarcosindicalsmo, 115–507, and Miró, Fidel, Cataluña, los trabajadores y el problema de las nacionalidades (la solución federal) (Mexico: Editores Mexicanos Unidos, 1967), 46–68.Google Scholar For the French CGT see Stafford, David, From Anarchism to Reformism (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1971)Google Scholar, and Lefranc, Georges, Le Mouvement syndical sous la Troisième Republique (Paris: Payot, 1967).Google Scholar

12 For the BOC see Bonamusa, Francesc, El Bloc Obrer i Camperol (1930–1932) (Barcelona: Curial, 1974)Google Scholar, and Durgan, Andrew, ‘Dissident Communism in Catalonia, 1930–1936’, PhD thesis, University of London, 1988.Google Scholar

13 Pestaña, Ángel, Lo que aprendí en la vida, Vol. 2 (Bilbao: Zero ZYX, 1973), 75–9Google Scholar; La Batalla, 11 Feb. 29 Dec. 1932; Madrid, Ocho meses, 172.

14 Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, Memoria del Congreso Extraordinario celebrado en Madrid los días 11 al 16 junio de 1931 (Barcelona: CNT, 1932), 11ffGoogle Scholar; Confederación Regional del Trabajo de Cataluña, Memoria del Pleno Regional de Sindicatos de Cataluña celebrado en Barcelona del 5 al 13 de marzo de 1933 (Barcelona: Confederación Regional del Trabajo de Cataluña, 1933), 5–9Google Scholar; Balcellsl, Albert, ‘El moviment obrer a Sabadell i la crisi de l'anarco-sindicalisme entre 1930 i 1936’, Perspectiva Social, Vol. 1, (1973)Google Scholar; Vega, Eulália, El trentisme a Catalunya. Divergències ideològiques en la CNT (1930–1933) (Barcelona: Curial, 1980)Google Scholar, passim; Andrew Durgan, ‘Els comunistes dissidents i els sindicats a la Catalunya Republicana’, L'Avenç, Vol. 142 (1990), 22–8.Google Scholar The manifest loss in syndical bargaining power, membership loss and other debilitating organisational consequences of the faísta ascendency within the CNT during the 1930s are thoroughly at odds with anarchist myths that the Confederation was strongest when the intervention of libertarians was greatest. An academic example of this propagandistic and wildly erroneous view is Antonio Bar, ‘The CNT: The Glory and Tragedy of Spanish Anarchosyndicalism’, in Marcel van der Linden and Wayne Thorpe, (eds, Revolutionary Syndicalism. An International Perspective (Aldershot: Scholar Press, 1990), 119–38.Google Scholar

15 Actas de los plenos de la Federación Local de Sindicatos Únicos de Barcelona, 7, 29 Nov. 1931, Carpeta 501, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Sección Guerra Civil, Salamanca; Solidaridad Obrera, 18 March 1932; La Publicitat, 5, 11 April 1934.

16 La Publicitat, 5–6, 11, 12 April 1934.

17 L'Opinió, 19 Aug. 1933; Dr Lluis Claramunt i Furest, La Lluita contra la Fibra Tifoide a Catalunya (Barcelona: n.p., 1933), 189–200, 205–6;Google ScholarLa Vanguardia, 21 Feb. 1933; Aiguader, Jaume, El Problema de L'Habitació Obrera a Barcelona (Barcelona: l'Institut Municipal d'Higiene de Barcelona, 1932), 6Google Scholar; El Luchador, 5 June 1931.

18 La Vanguardia, 15 March, 11 Aug. 1933.

19 Langdon-Davies, John, Behind the Spanish Barricades (New York: McBride, 1936), 116Google Scholar; Solidaridad Obrera, 24 April 1934.

20 León-Ignacio, , ‘El pistolerisme dels anys vint’, L'Avenç, Vol. 52, Sept. 1982, 23–7Google Scholar; Maurín, Joaquim, La revolución española (Barcelona: Anagrama, 1977), 29;Google Scholar Ealham, ‘Anarco-capitalistes’, 50–6.

21 El Dia Gráfico, 27 Nov. 1931.

22 La Publicitat, 16 Aug. 1933, 11–12 April 1934; El Noticiero Universal, 16 April 1934.

23 La Publicitat, 10 April 1934; Solidaridad Obrera, 14 March, 18 April 1933.

24 ibid., 20 April 1933.

25 ibid., 1 Aug. 1933.

26 These conclusions are based on my study of the crime and court pages of the Barcelona press for 1933.

27 Solidaridad Obrera, 21 Sept. 1933; FAI, 8 Jan. 1935.

28 Comercio γ Navegación, Feb., March, June 1933; La Vanguardia, 31 Oct. 1933.

29 La Vanguardia, 12 Dec. 1933, 8–9, 27 Jan., 10 April 1935; La Publicitat, 8–9 Jan. 1935.

30 Llarch, Joan, Los días rojinegros. Memorias de un niño libertario, 1936 (Barcelona: Ediciones 29, 1977), 22, 30Google Scholar; Sanz, Ricardo, El sindicalismo español antes de la guerra civil. Los hijos de trabajo (Barcelona: Ediciones Petronio, 1976), 65–82Google Scholar; Peirats, José, Figuras del movimiento libertario (Barcelona: Ediciones Picazo, 1977), 226–7Google Scholar; Ealham, ‘Crime’, 35–6.

31 Solidaridad Obrera, 16 Sept. 1932, 15 April 1934.

32 La Vanguardia, 27 Dec. 1934. For Sabaté see Solá, Antonio Téllez, Sabaté. Guerrilla urbana en España, 1945–1960 (Barcelona: Virus, 1992)Google Scholar, and Hobsbawm, Eric, Bandits (Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1985), 113–26.Google Scholar

33 La Vanguardia, 27 Dec. 1934; La Publicitat, 12 April 1934.

34 La Protesta, 11 Jan. 1926; Bayer, Osvaldo, Severino di Giovanni, el idealista de la violencia (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Galerna, 1970)Google Scholar, passim. For the broader shifts in the Argentinian labour movement, see Munck, Ronaldo, Falcón, Ricardo and Galitelli, Bernardo, Argentina: From Anarchism to Peronism. Workers, Unions and Politics, 1855–1985 (London: Zed Press, 1987), esp. 91–126.Google Scholar

35 La Publicitat, 6, 10, 12 April 1934. In France the most celebrated proponents of the trend of illegalisme were Jules Bonnot and his associates. For the case of France see Parry, Richard, The Bonnot Gang. The Story of the French Illegalists (London: Rebel Press, 1987)Google Scholar, and Serge, Victor, Memoirs of a Revolutionary (London: Writers and Readers, 1984), 12–44.Google Scholar

36 Paz, Abel, 19 de Juliol del ‘36’ à Barcelona (thereafter Paz, 19 de Juliol) (Barcelona: Editorial Hacer, 1988), 69–115;Google ScholarCruells, Manuel, La Revolta del 1936 à Barcelona (thereafter Cruells, Revolta) (Barcelona: Galba Edicions, 1976), 155–214Google Scholar; Rafael Vidiella, Los de ayer (Barcelona: n.p., 1934), 93; Miravitlles, Jaume, Episodis de la Guerra Civil Espanyola (Barcelona: Editorial Pòrtic, 1972), 67–8.Google Scholar

37 Paz, 19 de Juliol, 69–131; Cruells, Revolta, 217–77; Burnett Bolloten and George Esenwein, ‘Anarchists in Government: A Paradox of the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939’, in Lannon, Frances and Preston, Paul, eds, Elites and Power in Twentieth-century Spain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 153–77.Google Scholar

38 Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté and Joan Villarroya i Font, La repressió a la reraguarda de Catalunya, 1936–1939 (thereafter Solé i Sabaté and Villarroya i Font, La repressió), Vol. 1 (Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1989), 59–81Google Scholar; Diari de Barcelona, 1, 25, 27 Aug. 1936; Treball, 1–2 Aug. 1936; La Rambla, 25 Aug. 1936; La Humanitat, 26 Aug. 1936.

39 Llarch, Joan, La muerte de Durruti (thereafter Llarch, La muerte) (Barcelona: Plaza & Janes, 1985), 97–8, 102.Google Scholar

40 Peiró, Joan, Perill a la reraguarda (Mataró: Ediciones Llibertat, 1936), 20;Google ScholarLa Batalla, 31 July 1936; Solidaridad Obrera, 9, 24, 30 July 1936; Oliver, Anarcosindicalismo, 229–31; Llarch, 24; L'Opinió, 19 Oct. 1933. Prior to the Civil War Ruano was, in the view of L'Opinió, ‘one of the most dangerous’ anarchists in Catalonia, who had been responsible for a series of grupista actions, including a bomb attack on the Barcelona Employers’ Association offices and the elimination of police informers. La Publicitat, 11 April 1934; L'Opinió, 19–20 Oct. 1933; La Vanguardia, 19–20 Oct. 1933).

41 La Humanitat, 31 July 1936; Diari de Barcelona, 1 Aug. 1936; Treball, 15 Aug., 20 Oct. 1936; Cruells, Manuel, La societat catalana durant la guerra civil. Crònica d'un periodista polític (Barcelona: Edhasa, 1978), 73–84;Google ScholarFundación Nin, Andreu, Los sucesos de mayo de 1937. Una revolución en la Repùblica (Barcelona: Pandora, 1988)Google Scholar, passim; Cruells, Manuel, Els Fets de Maig. Barcelona 1937 (Barcelona: Editorial Joventut, 1970), 19–125.Google Scholar

42 Solé i Sabaté and Villarroya i Font, La repressií, 60.

43 Rafael Vidiella, ‘Causas del desarrollo, apogeo y decadencia de la CNT’, Leviatán, Feb. 1935, 32; FAI, 8 Jan. 1935.

44 One famous example of this approach is the Francoist historian and ex-policeman Eduardo Comín Colomer. See his Historia del anarquismo española (Barcelona: Editorial AHR, 1956), i. 369–411, ii. 9–47. Another vivid example of the distortion of protest through the failure to pay even passing reference to the wider socio–economic context can be seen in Payne, Stanley G., ‘Political Violence During the Spanish Second Republic’, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 3, no. 4 (1990), 269–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Not only does Payne completely decontextualise social violence by ignoring variables such as depressed wage levels, low living standards, etc., he also says nothing of the far greater repressive and destructive arsenal of the state which, in the aftermath of the 1934 Asturian Commune, left an estimated 3000 to 5000 workers dead and 30,000 jailed: Alba, Víctor, Historia de la segunda república española (Mexico City, Libro Mex Editores, 1960, 166–7).Google Scholar Meanwhile, in a curious example of historical empathy, Payne embraces the discourse of the Spanish authorities from the 1930s to describe social protest narrowly as ‘trouble’ (p. 271) and ‘disorder’ (p. 272).

45 Abella, Rafael, ‘La crónica negra de los años cuarenta, in Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté, Cataluña durante el franquismo (Barcelona: Biblioteca de La Vanguardia, 1984), 98–101.Google Scholar Although neither an anarchist nor a Catalan, the memoirs of the popular hero ‘El Lute’ vividly recreate the social and criminogenic world of the poor in post-Civil War Spain and illustrate how illegality was a vital component of the struggle for existence in the same way as it was in the 1930s: Rodríguez, Eleuterio Sánchez, Camina o revienta. Memorias de ‘El Lute’ (Madrid: Cuadernos para el Diálogo, 1977).Google Scholar