THE

TRUTH
ABOUT

SPAIN
tsY RUDOLPH ROCKER

ISHEDBY

PUBL

FREIE

AR

BEITER STIMME

45 1,^/EST 17TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY

RICE,

CENTS.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SPAIN

By RUDOLPH ROCKER
ooo

If there is any event that can bring

about a rediscovery of inner strength on
the part of organized labor and the libertarian elements of the world,

it is the

grand struggle against Fascism now being waged in Spain. After the unresisting defeat of the labor movement in Germany the effect of the heroic battle of
the Spanish workers, peasaots, and intellectuals against the Fascist bandits is that
of a refreshing thunderstorm. It is the
first time since Fascism made its appearance in Europe that the entire population of a country offered such a spirited
resistance to the imminent danger. That

is why the exampls of these struggles is

international in its signihcance, farlranscending in scope the frontiers of one
country,

The desperate struggle is the cornmon

of all movements that do not want
to fail under the bloody yoke of Fascism.
Yet one must single out the surpassing
promptness of action shown by the
C.N.T. and the F.A.I., which from the
very beginning imparted a momentum to
the struggle, enabling it to banish the
bloody spectre of Fascism from the gates
cause

of Catalonia.
It was the plan of the plotting

rreilitcr

ists to seize ail the important points by

a stratesy of

;ffiT

and spiritual life. The fall of Barcelona,

the largest city of Spain, would have rendered impossible any prolonged resistance to the Fascists. That is whv General Goded flew in haste to Barceiona in
order to lead the revolt in person.

N{adrid. The

most important linh in this plot was the

crushing o{ Catalonia, the fortress of the

revoluionary labor movement of Spain,

so as to cut off the capital from all the
large cities. Catalonia is the center of
Spinish industry and also the most highly
developed province in respect to culture

But the vigilance of the C.N.T. and

the unexampled bravery of its members
frustrated those plans at the very beginning. In a few days the so-called
"rebels" were utterly defeated. The victory of the workers in Barcelona led to
the quick suppression of the Fascist revolt in Taragona, Lerida, and l{atar6
and the liberation of the rvhole Catalonian province from the Fascist hangmen.
The workers' militia soon comprised
20,0N men, 13,000 of whom belonged to
the C.N.T. and the F.A.I., 2,000 to the
Socialist trade unions of the U.G.T., and
3,000 to the parties of the People's Front.
Apart from that, Barcelona also equipped an army of 8,000 men, all members
of he C.N.T., who, under the command
of the Anarchist Durutti, set out for
Saragossa in order to wrest the city from
the hands of the F'ascists.
There are so many fables circulated
by the foreign press about the aims of
thc C.N.T. arrd the F.A.L that it is necessary to glg
ffiatlons. We, of
course, cannot at the present time go
into the long and glorious history of the

struggles conducted by these powerful

organizations, or of the persecutions _to
wh-ich they were subjected. It would fill
yolumes. For the present we will only
dwell upon the ideological significance of
this movement and point out how this

t3l

THE TRUTH
in the tactics of these Paine, Jefferson'. and other representatives of English-American liberalism
oigurr[rtlorrr.
of the first period. He wanted to reduce
The "Confederacion Nacional del Tra- the power bt tire State to a minimum
bajo" (C.N.T.) was founded in 1910 and gradually su-persede it by a socialist
and within a period of five or six years administration of economy'
icleology operated

cmbraced a million organized workers in

King
ihe orgr,irr- In 1868, after the abdicationhisof"Manwrote
Bakunin
1.,
Amadeo
tion was new oniy in name, but not in its
\Morkers," and
tendencies and method;. ih; history of ifesto to the Spanish
visited
Federation
the Spanish labor movement is shot delegation.of .the,Jura
to
rvorkers
t",,i"Iite
ifrrorgi with long periods of reaction !g"i"l
lli:
:palish
AssoWorkmen's
a;G which the-mtvement could lead join the."International
wo.rkonly an underground existence. After tiation." Thousands of organized.
enthusias'
movement
th.t
ers
orlvas
each such period the movement
.joined
1tY
anarcho-svndicaland
3d34'a.the
;;;;; ;";. Th. ;;;. ;hr.g.J, brt ticallv
to
which the large
Bikunin
ideas
of
ist
the aims remainecl the same.
rnaiority of the Spanish workers have
The first labor movement in Spaln remained loyal to the present day.
arose in Catalonia in the year 1840 when,
trade uirions were organ- After the revolution of 1873 was dei"-s"tttio"a,
tr-"i iy
,:p"Pii:
Juan X{unts, a weaver. T!" feated and the first Spanish
Spanisir {overment tried to suppress this destrol-ed. with Jl. aid oI L,ngltsh
warships' the Spanish fed-

all parts of the count?;.

a-

ortrr.-"rr-t, and sent General'Zapatero, and Piussian

one of the darkest reactionaries in Span- eration of the International r'vas suppresitir-fritto.y, to Barcelona. In June, 1855, secl for manjlr years' Yet it never lost its
of the workers'
u gr"nt g'ene.al strike broke out in Cat- ground amongthe
"the masses
fearful reaction' the
*flich developed into a full rebel- In spite of
"r&i'
1ion.Theworkersri,roteupontheirflagsSpanis1rInternationa1istsorganized
on the barricades: "Asociacion ; po*,..frl underground movement and
tltr"rt.i" (The right to organize or published their pipers clandestinely.d-ura.rrf-r Il The rebelii"on was bru-tally sup- ing all the years of suppressiorr. After
pressed. but the nlovement continued its tt.-utn -vcars oi terriblc persecuttons
underground existence, until finally it the special laws against. the Spantsn
wrested from the government tl-re right labor movement were abollshed' ano

of

rcEiI

ree

association.

r,vithin a few months the whole movement

was reorganized under the name "Feder-

-6-aYaltrajattores-drffiesiore-

-,'Thii. firsTlabor
of Pi y lt{argili, Espafiola." As'far back as 1882,218
-'' L.'of+r.c.ide2$
the Spanrsn -teoeriirsL> roc?rl rcti..-tio*" .mhraeing a memberthe leader
and a disciple of Proudhon. Pi y l\{ar- ship of 7,000 r,r,orkers and peasants, u,'ere
gall was one of the foremost sav- already represented at its convention in
ants of the country, a great and all em- Sevilla.
movEment waFsTrongly---ac1on

bracing mind, r,vhose ll,orks exercised the

greatest influence upon the development There is no other movement in the
of libertarian ideas in Spain. His polit- lvorld n hich has faced such relentless
ical ideas had much 1t qsmmsn $,ith persecution as the anarchist labor movethose

of Richard Price, Priestly, Thomas ment

t4l

in Spain.

Hundreds

of its

fol-

'.-

ABAU,T SP,4 IN
lorvers tvere executed and tortured in the
prisons of Jerez de 1a Frontera, \,Iontjuich, Sevilla, Alcala dei Val1e etc.; but
no reaction couid ever stifle the spirit

of

resistance

of the Spanish r,t,orkers.

The present C.N.T. has grou,n out of

those traditions and is the continuation
of the former movements. fn contrast to
the anarchists of many countries, the
anarchists in Spain based their activity
from the very beginning upon the economlc organization of tl-re workers and
peasants. A "pure and simple trade
unionism" never existed in Spain.

If, today, lve see

the peasants rising in arms and fighting
side by side rniith the workers of the
to\4ns and cities againsr Fascism, this is
the brilliant result of the great educational rvork done by the C.N.T. and its
predecessors. The men ancl rvomen of
the C.l.LT. unclerstood that a social transiormation is an impossibility rvithout the
help of the peasantry and the intellectual
ers, and intellectuals.

workers.

The same principles of federalism and

free agreement represented in the ideology of the C.N.T. also underlie the practical r,r'ork of the organization. It knows
no trade union bureaucracy, and it furthers the self-reliance of the syndicates
and its members in every ..rp".i. In the
smaller syndicates all the work of the
organization is done voluntarily. In the
larger syndicates, which .rrroiget along
i,vithout paid officials, the iatter are eiected for one year only and receive the
same remuneration as the workers of
their respective trades. Even the general
secretary of the C.N.T. is subject to
the same rule. This is an old tradition
in SJain which has not changed
since
the First International.

The aim of the C.\I.T. is two-fold.

Under capitalism the organization seeks
to raise the material and cultural level of
the workers and peasants by direct action and education of the masses. But
its real aim is the establishment of a new
society based upon libertarian socialism.
It is against any form of State capitalism
and aims at a society of free communes
united into a federation based on the
common interests of economic and spiritual life. The C.N.T. is against any form
of dictatorship, seeing in it only an institution for the suppression of the cultural life and the natural developrnent of
society. Its aim is not the conquest of
political power, but the conquesi of the
land, the factory, the means of production, and the natural resources of the
country. Its socialistic education of the
workers does not consist in telling them
to vote for political rcpresentation in the

This leads to a high development of

personal initiative of every individual
member. The technical organization of
the C.N.T. may appear somewhat primitive in comparison with those of the
trade unions of other countries. But the
C.N.T. created a spirit and generated an

The C.N.T. is not just an association

of industrial workeis like the trade
unions in other countries. It unites within its ranks the syndicates of peasants,
agricultural workers, white collir work-

to one's trade only, and which so

quently found in other countries, is unknorvn in Spain. One does not find it even
in the Socialist unions of the U.G.T.
One hears less about "class consciousness" and other familiar slogans in Spain,

l,":,*;*

i;--

[?,1lxi;#'"'*:"1'l"l- *:t
--ffivework,foi,theistheclassica1countryofso1idaricaction.
The narrorn' craft spirit which is limited
needs and comfort of all.
is
fre-

tsl

THE TRUTH
A short w-hile ago the communist depubut the workers are most firmly bound
ty
and
solidarity,
of
Jesus Hernandez, manager of the
links
by
other
to each
paper "Mundo Obrero," made
ctmmunist
a
the living spirit is of more value than
declaration:
following
the
GerIn
technique.
lifeless o*rganizational
many this- technic was developed to its
"It is abso utely false that the present
workers' -ove-errt has for its object the
utmost, but when Hitler came into power
establishment of a proletarian dictatoreight million organized workers did not
ship after the revolution has come to an
ra'ise as much is a finger to avert the
It cannot be said that we have a
end.
difthe
lies
catastrophe. And therein
social motive for our participation in the
ference-between the two types of organiwar. We communists are the first to
reoudiate this supposition. \Me are mozabon,
by a desire to defcnd
tivated exclusively'republic
established on
democratic
the
alliany
into
The C.N.T. never went
l4th,
1931, and revived last FebruApril
ance with political parties. In time of
ary 16th."
Jnrg.. it was always ready to fight "l?"qThis declaration may puzzle the comside" of other organizations, as it -ts
I:[olvever, it idheres to its specific munists of other countries. But Her"or.r.
,t1itl.ra. and does not give up any of its nandez knows that the Spanish workers
the
incleoendence. But it does attempt, and and peasants are not enthused about
this'with patticular success during the <lictaiorship idea, and that the communist
last ferv years, to come nearer to the movement forms onll' a small minority,
*o1L... bllonging to the Sociaiist trade split, in addition, into three factions'
Parly
urliors. The"suicess of that policy is He knows also that thetoCommunist
of an
much
be
the
enough
rvhere
strong
not
is
in
cases
especiallv striking
*5.t.it'of the S"ocialist unions opposed obstacle to the aims of the powerful
their political leadership, as \vas the ca5 C.N.T.
witt fhe miners of Asturias. The C'N"I '
Whether or not the heroic struggle of
undertook many successful actions to' rhe Spanish workers, peasaflts, and intelg.th.t rvith the workers of the U'G'T' lectuals to save their countrl' fronr the
it tt e last congress of the C'N'T', held bloody yoke of Fascism will be confined
in Sn.""otta in" the month of l\lay' the *...1, io a clefense of the present repub<leleeatei warnilv supported the idea of
lic is another question. The murderous
for#ing an ailiance with the U'G'T' for onslausht bv a gang of military criminals
ih" pr-tpo." of comrlon def ense and on the"life-of the Spanish republic has
attack. the present close cooperation of created a new situation. Under such
both organizitions in the struggie against circumstances the natural development of
Fascisni will render their relations even social events has to take shorter '"vays
friencllier.
adopt other forms of social prog-and to .r.ri -;mirchle creative work
The C.N.T. is a tremeno(JLrs taurur r,.
the spiritual and social life of Spain. It which is now carried on by the C.N.'I'.
could not be suppressed in spite of the and the F.A.I. in Catalonia for the redreadful persecutions heaped upon it for construction of the whole social system,
a number of years. In the shaping of the is only the outcome of the present situacoming social order of Spain, the C.N.T. tion. There is no doubt that the defeat
will surely play a great and impressive of Fascism will lead to a new era in
role, its influence extending far beyond Spanish history. We may be sure that
the workers and peasants of Spain, after
the organization proper.

I6l

ABOiTT SPA'N

their victory, will be able to carry to movement in every country possesses

fruition their full emancipation. and'will own definite .rr"i"tt.i...";i"5'ilthe its
not permit any miscarriage of the inevit- ditions and the rrtto.i.ur-J.v.toprr.errttra-i;;;;',iou.i"."t, or
abte social

transformation.

people.

ih;

""a
As to the ,,Anarchist Federation
I.!91ia" (F-A.I.), there is no essential doctrine of grace. Ail tfie taik-about
difference between it and the c.N.T. "united Frofit', o. , ;e"ople'! Front,, a
Both organizations work in close har- not worth a straw if we do not learn is
to
mony with each other. The F.A.I. is an respect the opinions of otfr*i
una luage
ideological association which aims. to up- them from td. ;;;;";
i;i"i Jrli.* oi ,
hold the anarchist traditions in the party doctrine.
Spanish labor movement. It consists of
a great number of active young men who
* * {<
are always ready to place themselves in
the forefront of the social struggle. While the heroic Spanish workers and
Ey.1y member of the F.A.I. is a meri6.. peasants are sacrificing their lives on
of the C.N.T. and is among its most numerous battlefields "to defend their
active fighters.
country.-against the bloody onslaught of
a merciless and barbaric foe, thJ hire_
Both. organizations
.have. published a lings oi ihe ..uctior;;t p;;'the
worrd
-irrtu*o*
great deal of libertarian
literature and ovEr reviie- them in tfi.',r*st
run large publishing
!o.us9g. A^part from manner, u..r.r"g A;-";- h;uirg .o*the daily papers, "solidaridad
Obrera" in *itt"a L"ery poisibt" c.i*e--rgai-rst tte
Barcelona and "cNT" in Madrid-these trrus ol-t u*rrity. ny
co*bat?ing these
two organizations published before the lies, and t, k;;;i"tirr""pruri.^
Lpinion
present events about 40 weeklies and five of the *o.td l.rto.-".d
of fhe
.or...
monthly revues. This alone shorvs the of events in Spain,-we -.""-tr,r.
fr.rp
o",
strength
-of that movement and the. ex- fighting .o-iud.'.-*tri .n".ii".li
tent of its influence upon the workers
and peasants.
The good puritans in this country are
-

of ;:fT':il1..i5;fft*::#;"""ffT,"#

Since the beginning or. the present

ilJ:iTfdt,[""0H":t-,;i'H;*L'lf

struggle quite a number of autonomous Spain. They cannot or will noi ,rrrd..syndicates, such as the workers in the stand that i[ is a matter of self-defense
film industry_,_ the writers, actors, and to deprive a terrible and ruthless enemy

r,vorkers of itl tle theatres in Cat;lo;ia, of the economic *;;-*hi;ii-g".

rriri,
and many others, have joined the C.N.T. the power to carry on a war of &terminand are taking part in the great struggre ation against:4t"sg+qliFrtrh"gaT-"*
against Fascism a..I +^- '^^:-t ''t. -nl;' '_t;---*, o

The organized workers of the world

who now follow the gigantic struggle of
their Spanish brothers against the terrible menace of Fascism with so tense an
interest must come to realize that the

hired the Moors of the Riff "to save

Christianity." They have forgotten what
their forefathers did in England, Hol-

Spanish events cannot be regarded

Church

from

a purely partisan point of view. The

land, Srveden, and Germany, where they

confiscated the entire property of the
Rome.

t7t

in their great struggle against

f HE 7RU7H
One has to knorv the role of

the

Church in Spanish history in order to understand the present events. In Spain the
Church has never been a mere religious

institution, but a formidable economic

and political por,i,'er rvhich for centuries
had the greatest influence upon the r,r,hole
social life of the country. In its long and

bloody history, the Church alu,ays has

been the deadliest foe of social progress
and the main center of every reaction.

During the enclless wars against the

Moors which lasted nearly 800 years, the
Church became a tremenclous factor and
the principal tool of Spanish absolutism.
For centuries Spain had been the most
advanced countrv in Europe, the leading
spirit in science, art, industry, and agriculture. But when the Moors were driv-

factor in guarding the country against any

cuitural influence from abroad. On the
list of prohibited books, published by
the inquisition in 7790, lve find the names
of more than7600 writers, amongst them
the classical works of Horace, Ovid,
Cicero, Plutarch, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and many others. At that very

time Spain had an army of

134,000

priests, 46,000 monlis, and 32,000 ntins.

The landed property of the Church was
estimated at 32,500,000,000 reals r,vhich
gave the clergy a yearly income of 500,-

0@,000 reals. Besides that the Church

possessed in buildings, horses, cattle,

etc., property worth another 82,000,000

reals. Together with the many other

of exploitation the yearly

income
represented
1,600,000,000 reals.x But the people
lived in appalling misery and one Spaniards out of 72 was a beggar.

sources

of the Spanish Church

en out of the country, and the nation

was subdued under the tyranny of the
Church and the Christian Monarchy this
The French revolution introduced the
great civilization was destroyed with
ideas of liberalism into the Iberian
first
fire and sword. The rights and liberties
of the Spanish towns and cities were peninsula which conquered the intelliabolished, after thousands upon thou- gensia of the country. From then on the
sands had been slain in their resistance str-uggle against the Church and the
against this nelv dreadful power. The Monarchy began and has never stopped
land became a desert, its wonderful in- since. In 1812 the Constitution of Cadiz
dustries decaved, its spiritual life was was proclaimed which abolished the instifled. By the end of the reign of the quisition and paralyzed the power of the
After the defeat of the Napol.sinister despot, Philip II, Spain had lost Church.
eonic armies in Spain Fernando VII.
nearly half of her population.
came back to Madrid. He recognized the
It was the Church and the representa- constitution of the people and promised
tives of royal despotism rn,ho invented by solemn oath to rule as a constituthat terrible tribunal, the inquisition, the tional monarch and to defend the new
laws of the country. For a few months
inar 3 d5filsHTetf .ig.. l3: :yp-p.'::'i"" :j,
garelul statement, pubiished by the Abb6 f; e;;i, rl?Iin,frX8. o'f;ifjtfl:o" t lJ.'l"?l
De Montgaillard, from 148i to tZSl clerical despotism.
nearly 330,000 persons had been burmt
alive in Spain, and their property con- _ But Fernando, whorn Louis Philippe of
fiscated by the State.
France called "the most perfect JCoundrel the world ever saw," conspired with
During all these years of slavery and
. a* real is between six and seven cents.
degra.dation the Church was the'main
_

I8l

ABOUT SPAIN
the Church against the

"El Angel Exterminador,, (the angel of

death). This monstrous fraternitv-hirerl
a whole army of thugs, in order'to get
rid of the outstanding fisures in Soari;st,
A new period of riaction calne over liberalism. From 1823 r;1825
mor!
Spain. The constitution was aboiished, 4,000 persons were assassinated bvtha.,
the
the inquisition re-established, and 50,000 agents of this diabolic gang of
cftrical
constitution

rvhich he denounced as "an invention of

the devii and a crime against the divine
right of the monarchy and the Church.,,

liberals vu'ere buried alive in the dungeons

and chambers of torture of the dread

tribunal.

In 1820 Rafael del Riego rose against

the bloody tl,ranny of Fernando and

murderers.

. In the tgTg l-.1r rhe Duke of Angouldme ivith 60,000 French soldiers er-rt"ercd

Spain to help Fernando annihilale the

Spanish constitutionalists. After thev
marched r,vith his soldiers upon Madrid. r.ere defeated r,vith the help
of
The provinces of Catalonia and Galicia arml'. Spain u as doomed again a foreigir
for maiv
followed his example, and all the liberai _\-ears. No country in the world
has witelements hailed Riego as the liberator nessed such a horrible period
of reaction.
o-f the country. Fernando, reaiizing The liberals were kifled b1,
score.
the danger, changed his policy immedi-- X,Iore-than. 50,000 persons fiileclthe
the prisately and called himself a constitutional- o1s.9f the inquisition. Riego, the
ist, accusing his advisors and making of his country, was execuied in alibeiator
shamethem .responsible for everything. Th; ful u,ay. IIe tvas sewed into a
sack and
Constitution of Cadiz was put ln force car-r'ied on,a dunl<ey to the gallows,
u-hile
again, the inquisition was abolished once a fanatical mob, incited by the priests,
more, and the jesuits were driven out horrled "Vivan las cadenasi', (Lons live
of the country. The prison doors opened the clains !) All the schools ireate"d by
and released all the innocent victims of the liberals were destroyed, and the inpolitical persecution. Fernando made his quisition ordered the burning of
all books
famous speech in the Cortes cursing the with the exception of those- which
were
enemies of the constitution and assuring recommended by the
Even as
Jesuits.
the deputies that he had no other wisf, late as 1826 the city of Valencia witbut to be "the highest servant of his nessed an auto-da-f6, when the freebeloved people."
Ripoll was hanged and his dead
fafo!
body burnt on the marf,et place, because
It was the beginning of a new era in he expressed his
the life of the country. The Cortes of the Church. disbelief in the dogmas
passed the "laws of education," and
schools l+,ere built all over Spain. But
In all the countless struggles of the
while the liberals were absorbed in Spanish people from the frJrictr Revoiutheir constructive work for the re- tion to the present day,-tlte h-urch algeneration of the country, Fernando and ways sided with the enemies
of the
the Church appealed to the "Holy Al- nation, as it has sided now with
liance" to .get help from abroad against bloody cause of Fascism. That is the
the
their enemies of the Liberal Party.
reason why the Church is so bitterlv
hated in Spain. Every intelligent SpanIn 1823, two bishops and 127 prelates iard knows the sinistei role it las pliyed
-founded
that infamous secret society in the long course of Spanish historv.
which is known in Spanish history as The Church has destroybd one of the

t9l

THE TRUTH
ever uprising, long before Marx was born or
it has ruined the country and the general ideas of socialism were known
pauperized its population; it has stifled in Spain. Every progressive movement

highest civilizations the world has

seen;

all social progress and created for cen- has had to fight the Church as its most
turies a realm of darkness and ignorance. powerful and most ruthless enemy.
Every attempt to fight this ignorance In a letter to the New York Tribune
paper which nobody will accuse of
by means of a freer education has been
-a
denounced by the Church as "a crime b-e-ing in sympathy with the 'r1gd5"-l![1.
against the laws of God." In 1851 An- W. Barry said very justly:
tonio Cervera founded a school in Ma"The question of the burning of the
drid for the purpose of providing the churches is wh_ol1y explicable-much as I
workers of thJt city with an opportunity re-gret.it as a Catholic and a lover of art.
to acquire an elerientary eduiation. .
3ff,.tfHi":""i3iil'ilu::":1il:X'i:l:
met with immediate success, growing tlc"i afrui.s.' -it"pi,1v a Coughli" is a
rapidly until it was attended by 500 rarity in our histoiy, and we find that he
a.deni and diligent students. But Cer- not olly does ;rot represent the views of
vera's noble ai'tempt soon became the the Catholic Church in America in his
target or crsricat attacks. A deputation 3,?1j|!?i.:f::h"!,1t, 3f.n3f;i']1ffi",T;
of liberal Spaniards therefore appealed learned members of the American-clergy.
to the minisler Bravo Murillo to sanc_ In Spain it has definitely and as a body
tion the school, but Murillo answered aligned itself on the side of the men who
them with. the cy,,ical *,ords: "There
fl1;:,:"L":1X,tL?:,ttiill":*:tli#,j;
.their
no necessity in Spain for workers who going into the ethical -merits of
action,,it cannot be expected, that the people
can read and write. What rve need is

it

is

beasts

of

burden."

;,t..|,fft:, [1'",H.t'3, ;[11','.',:1i *f

i:"l'".T::.. H::i"".i &#T.tl.'#id11

Needless to say, the sctrool of cervera was suppressed

like so many the.rebel.forces by members of the clergy,
los-ing respec.t for the lives and
others. From ^the destruction of thl without
propertv of these priests'"
liberal schools in 1824 to the infamous
execution of Francisco Ferrer, founder No Spanish revolutionist, from the
of the Modern School in Barcelona, the early defenders of liberalism and democChurch always followed the same policy racy to the anarchist workers of the
in order to prevent any anti-clerical edu- present C.N.T. and the F.A.I., has ever

Tll,Ili,'l;L:i;

[:3ft' f5, 3ll"'t,l*,,1'

is a deliberate lie to assert that the of the Inquisition, the land of Torquepresent burning of the churches and mada, Escobar, and Loyola, where the
monasteries is the outcome of those slightest doubt in the dogmas of the
"foreign doctrines of Marxism and Bol- Church had bee4 punished-wirh tortr+re
shevism," as the hangmen of Fascism and dertA;tliey have learned this much,
would have us believe. The fact is that that religious ideas cannot be altered by
the majority of the modern iabor move- mere force and brutal suppression. sdt
ment in Spain never has been inspired while they tolerated the p&sonal convicby the ideas of marxism and still less by tion of the individual they all had to
the conceptions of Lenin and Stalin. fight the Church, because it always had
Churches were burnt in every popular been and has remained to the present day
It

I 10l

ABOAT SPAIN
the political stronghold of Spanish re- against the republican government which
action and the most uncompromising was elected by the large majority of the
Spanish people, in order to free the
enemy of any change in the social life.
country of the sinister influence of
*+rf
foreign ideas and the rulership of
Moscow.

Fascism never had a clear and definite

ideological foundation.

It is a bizarre

And,

to

erpress their loae f or the

mixture, representing a crazy-quilt with

patches borrowed from the most diverse
sources. It has a different meaning in
every country, having only one thing in
common: the ferocious brutality of its
methods and the absolute subjection of
the individual to the power of the socalled totalitarian State. But there is
one more trait characteristic of the
followers of Fascism all the world over.
They all speak of the "awakening of
the nation" as they understand it, pretending, of course, that they themselves
and no one else are the true interpreters
of the national spirit. Every Black Shirt
in Italy is the representative of the
"Italian Nation"; every SS-man in Germany is the bearer of the "real German
spirit"; every member of the Black Legion or the Ku Klux Klan in this country is the living incarnation of "true
Americanism."

Spanish nati,on tkey conspired zui,th, forei.gn tyraruts like Hitler and. Mussolini'
and, hired. the Moroccans of North, Afri..
ca to devastate the land, of their birth
and to erterminate their ozpn feople.

In fact, Fascism has made of nationalism a new political religion the dogmas
of which are as sanctified as those of
the Church. But modern history in
Italy, Germany, Austria, etc., has proved
that nationalism for them is only a cloak
that conceals everything; its flag covers
up every iniquity, every crime and outrage. If any further proof were necessary, it has been amply furnished by the

Such emotions are foreign to the men

r,r,ho transformed their native countrv
into a slaughter-house for their personal

There is a vast difference betn'een the

popular nationalism of former days, as
advocated by men llke Mazzini and Garibaldi, and the flagrant counter-revolutionary and anti-social F'ascism of our
time. Mazzini's slogan, "God and the
people," was symbolic of aspirations that
animated the entire people. Though
Mazzini's ideas contained the seeds of
a new political bondage, he and his coworkers lvere actuated by noble motives.
The patriots of those days dre',v a clear
line of demarcation between the State
and their national aims. They misread
the meaning of historic facts, but their
lives and acts were imbued with love and
devotion to the people.

political ambitions and their economic

interests. General Franco told the correspondents of French and English
newspapers that he is prepared to sacrifice half the population of Spain in
order to establish his dictarorship and
to lvipe out the pest of communism. Genrecent example in Spain.
eral Queipo de Llano declared that there
r,vill be no end to the present lvar until
Cold-blooded hangmen like Franco, the last Marxist on Spanish soil is exeMola, Gil Robles and the rest of them cuted.

assure the rvorld that it was only love of

their country and of the people of Spain
that compelled them to rise in arms

That this is not a mere boast has

since been shown by the terrible events

I11l

THE TRUTH
atBadajoz, where 3,000 men and rn'omen
were sliugLtered by the NIoors and the
Spanish F"oreigl Legion, a bgdy recruited from the riff-raff of various foreign
nations, principally Germans. Mr. Ja_y
Allen, correspondent of the Chicago Tribune gave
a horrible picture of his per'experience,
sonal
telling the rn,orld how
r,ouu unarmcLr nren ano \1 omen \vere
driven into the burl ring and massacred
in batches bv machine gun

firing'

workers of Catalonia are-.showing. The

unscrupulous are spreading their lies

?H;tJ*';:;"1*;;'*:*"1;!:."'#ji::;
the-revolutionary w"orkers

of

,,\\re appeal to you, friencls

Ba..ilor1".

of

freedorn.

i.li.... tle manu{actured stories

lfout murders, robbelies and disorders in
Catalonia ! Remember- that-our. fight
your fight I If we fall' -[rascism u .is
ill
fi:lf,.1t;il, T3"In""*:i.,?Tf'1?'; t,,?.X:
ffiil:lll $f11.f.' 5T:t:,I":fTl'rl#lT;
Do not

In Sevilla, Cadiz, Granada, Saragossa, victory of hum-an- progress. fuorkers ancl

Huesca urrd ,'rrnrry other towns ;r, tt-re anti-Fascists of the u'orld-help us I we

work-

hands or the reb.el*, thousands or

flij,uiX!, XJ:,#:X,
:i? ili,TH::lSl
ers have been slain for their resistance the enemies of everything that- is himan.
to gangs of armecl thugs who committed Do not allor,r' lies to be spread about the
treison"against their own country, carry- l::" l#lt:lt^of,Spanish and world freel,ng on a war of extermination against
to:I;r.1;rl',i,or,';,'iniJ?1*1'",TruoX:li;
Spanish people with the help of foreign you will not forsake us.',

the

mefcenarles.

Au the newsp?pers have reported 19*

;";,9t,j1i.$-:,:-:""rl"i".fii;
the forces of General Franco, p.ushing
".IXi;.
called by the reactionary press, tut of
on Madrid from the sT1!,
,,.,ho are conscio"i i,i the great
:lllqhlered the peasants en masse, ll::
hoping
there- -e,
responsibility .lvhich history has piaced
by to prevent attacks in their rear.
on them, and who u.. ,""dy to tai<e the
of their actions' The wonIn a manifesto to the workers of all consequences
work thev are doing now; in order
.ou.,t.i.., frUf.t Uy'i["'i;;i;;;. C#- derful
to reorganize the whole social life of
"a
mittee of the C.N.T.
and
the F.A.I.. Catalonia'
-rri"
to prevent criminal elements
they appeal especially i"
.""r.i.":
tious journaristi and

reporters,

foes of order,
"It is not we who are
hut the militarists and-theFascists. The
heroic work of the C.N.T. and F.A.I. in
;i-;'t#
combination with the'ii;#I
organizations crushed the Fiiclst upriiirrg
in- Catalonia. But Fascism has not
been v-anq_uished yet. Thousan4s of our

lavc sur
l uLrrruru Jar dliu:sa.
c
.-".i-"-:1*1_l::l;':.")Yl
:::.:9ji-:"::
qtrltqqte
qryo
,rp
ntttllno
lto, a terrif;c
TPrrtEc
rn save
putting
up
struggie
to
are
curlrl aucs

vv

jll*,i,T13"L..""iJ:-ilt",#

;lfil,lt

to carry on the military

resistanie against the Fascist armiei
bears rvitness to it. And this constructive
and creative work is the more admirable
as it is based solely upon natural solidarity, mutual aid, and social justice,
lvithout recours
rvithout
recourse to the dange.ors derice
of diqlalqlship'
necessary means
;

our comrades t"here anrl in the rest of

Spain. Our {ghrrnusT-Ie---uCcaasiiil.
Freedom must win ovcr slavery.
Technicians, engineers, architects, men
"The hunger-driven workers of Spain of science, teachers, artists, etc., are enare not looters and rapists. Pven. the thusiastically offering their assistance to
reporters of the bourge"lt-!l::-t;,i:-']lb-1' the workeri of the"c.N.T. and F.A.I.,
of Capitalist
the most unscrupulous
-io. papers,
'aclmiration
have expresse<l
tr,"'.ia..l and helping them in their gigantic task of
liness and respect for foreigners that the social regeneration.
| 12)

ABOUT SPAIN
The men and rvomen of the C.N.T. without the heroic stand of the C.N.T.
and F.A.I. have realized that salvation Spain would have been doomed at the
lies in liberty, Autocracy is based on very beginning of the struggle.
submission and therefore cannot serve
*i<*
the cause of freedom. Dictatorship is
never a transitory stage for the achieveIt has been the tragic fate of SPain
ment of some specific object, because it that every time the Spanish people arose
inevitably compels its representatives against tire unbearable tyranny of their
to resort to methods that gradually take masters, they r,vere crushed by foreign
them entirely away from their original
The Constitution of Cadiz
aims, supposing even that they had at intervention.
was liberated from the
Spain
by
which
first been motivated b1' a sincere desire to
and
serve the people. Moreover, political ytke of absolutism and the Church,
the
by
reestablished
been
had
power inherently lacks constructiveness ivhich
Spanish
the
and
Riego
of
heroic
efforts
and therefore always develops tyranny.
liberals, was doomed when a Flench
Emancipation cannot be achieved by army, sent by the Holy Alliance, invaded
greater despotism. Every forrrr of depend- the country, helping Fernando VII' to
ence results in a new system of slavery. regain his "divine rights as a Christian
Dictatorship in particular, excludes the m6narch," and giving him the possibility
possibility of improvement, because it to plunge the Spanish people into the
supp.esses criticism of its acts. People rr-rnit t"irific reaction the world had ever
can be forced to perform certain tasks, witnessed.
but no amount of coercion can duplicate
that rn hich is achieved through inner
In 1873 British and Prussian warships
need, sympathy, and love. There are helped the monarchists to destroy the
things that even the mightiest g9v- firi Spanish republic, assailing-the brave
ernment is porverless to comPel- defenders of the Commune of Cartagena,
things that only social soiidarity and giving General Pavia a free hand
and voluntary action can accomplish. against the republicans.
Compulsion does not unite; it divides
and separates. Placing people under the
same yoke does not bring them closer

it alienates
thim from each other and breeds
narrow selfishness and estrangement.
Social ties can grol / and develop only
in freedom, as the result of voluntary
choice and unconstrained effort. Only
together; on the contrary,

under such conditions ean individual

libert1, and social unity become merged
into a complete and inseparable r.r'hole.

And while the C.N.T. and the F.A.I.

are carrying on their rvork of social construction their members are fighting on
all the battiefronts. Even the republican
government in Madrid had to admit that

Today history repeats itself once more'

According to documents which rvere discovered 6y the Spanish government in
Madrid, it has been proven that the uprising lvas carefully prepared anll su.l'
portJd from the beginning by the Fascist
powers of Italy and GermanY.
trVhile the rn'srkers of Barcelona were
fighting the rebels, a group of German
potitlcit refugecs, aided by -members of
ih" C.N.T., raided the offices of the
"German Labor Front" and the Nazi
party in that city, seizing all the written
material they found there. Part of these
clocuments have already been published
in the \fanchester Guardian and in the

t13l

THE TRUTH
Bulletin of the C.N.T. The whole material will be printed shortly in a special
volume. Thus it has been proven that
the Nazis had covered the whole Iberian
Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, and
Spanish Morrocco with a network

T-eague of Nations, Prieto shrugged his

shoulders and replied quietly:

"Ethiopia presented her case to the

League. You know what happened. I

am afraid our Spain has become the

Ethiopia of Europe !"

of organizationr fof political and

economic espionage. These groups \\"ere
rn continual contact with the Nazi

Everyone knows that the rebels have

the moral and material support of Italy,
Germany and Portugal in-spite of the
so-called agreement of neutrality and

headquarters in Berlin through the agency

of the German Consul in Barcelona-who,

in violation of the Spanish laws, had non-inter-vention. If not for this the
carried on secret foreign propaganda whole insurrection l,vould have been
for years. No wonder that manl Ger- ended long ago; for with the exception
mans left Barcelona in a panic after of some parts of Navarre, Old
Caitille
these discoveries. Rightly "El Diluvio," and Leon, the whole Spanish population
a daily republican paper close to the is against the rebels. The heroic stand
Catalonian government, remarked :
of the people in cvery part of the countrv
bears witness to the fact that Spain
"I{any aliens who are now leaving the
again has become the victim of the dark
countly should have been expelled long
powers from abroad. If the Spaniards
ago. They came from countries where
l_ose their battle, Europe will be
Fascism is in power, carrying on espiondoomed. It will be the beginning of a
age and serving as organs o{ contact
between their governments and our gennew Holy Alliance, the beginnin.q of a
erals rvho have sold themselves to foreign
reign of terror and barbarism itt tt e
interests."
world over.
The New York Times (Aug. 28, 1936)
published an interview witi Indalecio
Prieto, minister of the present Spanish
government, in which he stated:
"Ten days before the Kamerun incident
(the reported search of a German vessel
by a Spanish warship) a German vessel
landed its cargo of airplane and tank
parts at Cadiz. The parts were taken to
Seville in two freight trains composecl oi

frfty-nine cars; all accompanied bv fiftv

armed Germans. These Germa,,r

i.."--

bled the planes and tanks at Tablade

Airdrome in Sevilla and handed them to
the .rebels, then joined Franco's Foreign
Legion. I can plqve all this jlst as I

tle Kamerun landed its cargo

rebels at a Portugueie
port after we had prevented it Trom

Lil<e Nlussolini, Hitler, and their followers in other countries, the heads of
the Spanish Fascists termed their crime
against the Spanish people "a lvar against
the danger of bolshevism." They know
that_ the people of Spain are against any
kind of dictatorship, but they know also
that this scarecrow is an excellent means
of frightening the Philistine. Even socalled liberals in foreign countries have
-bluff. Let
been taken in by this
them
have a look at Germanv and Italv where
"Bolshevism" has been defeated bv the
new "liberators of humanitn'l

can pfo_ve

Not only Socialism and the

of gasoline for the

reaching Cadiz."

Mrhen asked why the Spanish government did not Iodge complaints with the

labor

movement have been crushed by Fascism:

every one who dared to have an independent opinion, or eyen to remain neutral, has been crushed bv Fascism

"marching over the body

14l

oi

freedom,"

ABOU.T SPAIN
as Mussolini termed it. Art, science,
philosophy and literature have been
forced into its service. Thousands were
slaughtered to secure its triumph in ltaly,
Germany, Austria and elsewhere. Innocent men and women, among them artists, u,riters and thinkers of internationai
fame, were hounded into exile, private

tween Germans and non-Arians have

been declared a crime against the "purity
of the race," and sexual ethics reduced
to the level of cattle breeding.
And this situation is aggravated by the
ever-present danger of war since Mussolini and Hitler came to power. Europe
resembles an armed camp; each nation

homes invaded, valuable libraries burned.

torn from their lives in constant suspicion and fear of

families, thrown into concentration its neighbors, for which the tyranny of

Thousands have been

Fascism is mainly responsible. This we

camps, tortured morally and physically,

and many have been driven to slow
death or suicide. In Germany this madness, aggravated by race hatred, particularly against the Jews, has assumed the

have gained by defeating "Bolshevism."

The terrific struggle now going on in

Spain is a sign of the times. Now the
question is one of repulsing an enemy
who threatens the very basis of civilizalion and freedom. Germany, Italy, Austria are bloody warnings. Woe to the
rvorld if the heroic struggle of the Spanish people should be stifled in the blood
of the last defenders of freedom and

most bestial forms. The barbarism of

ages long past has been revived. Fascism has roused the lo'"vest passions and
incited the people to heinous atrocities.
It has assumed control over every phase
of life, including the most intimate relations of the sexes, which even the worst
despotism used to respect. Marriages be-

social justice

15