Durruti in the Spanish revolution

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Durruti was the ultimate working-class hero: carrying the future in his heart and a gun in each pocket. Abel Paz's magnificent biography resurrects the very soul of Spanish anarchism.”—Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums AK Press has commissioned an elegant, new and unabridged translation of the definitive biography of Spanish revolutionary and military strategist, Buenaventura Durruti. But Abel Paz, who fought alongside Durruti in the Spanish Civil War, has given us much more than an account of a single man’s life. Durruti in the Spanish Revolution is as much a biography of a nation and of a tumultuous historical era. Paz seamlessly weaves intimate biographical details of Durruti’s life—his progression from factory worker and father to bank robber, political exile and, eventually, revolutionary leader—with extensive historical background, behind-the-scenes governmental intrigue, and blow-by-blow accounts of major battles and urban guerrilla warfare. An amazing and exhaustive study of an incredible man and his life-long fight against fascism in both its capitalist and Stalinist forms. Includes Jose Luis Gutierres Molina’s introduction about Abel Paz’s life and the historiography of the Spanish Civil War. Abel Paz was born in 1921. At 15, he joined the Durruti Column and fought in the Spanish Revolution. After the revolution's defeat, he was active as a guerilla fighter against the Franco regime and spent eleven years in prison. He lives in Barcelona, Spain. Chuck Morse founded the Institute for Anarchist Studies, co-edited Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, and founded and edited The New Formulation: An Anti-Authoritarian Review of Books. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Contents......Page 6 Preface to the spanish edition......Page 10 Note to the second spanish edition......Page 13 FIRST PART: The Rebel......Page 14 1. Between the cross and the hammer......Page 16 2. August 1917......Page 23 3. From Exile to Anarchism......Page 27 4. Los justicieros......Page 32 5. Confronting government terror......Page 36 6. Zaragoza, 1922......Page 41 7. Los solidarios......Page 47 8. José Regueral and Cardinal Soldevila......Page 51 9. Toward the Primo de Rivera dictatorship......Page 60 10. The Revolutionary Center of Paris......Page 70 11. Guerrillas in Latin America......Page 82 12. From SimónRadowitzky toBoris Wladimirovich......Page 90 13. Los Errantes in Buenos Aires in 1925......Page 99 14. Toward Paris: 1926......Page 106 15. The plot against Alfonso XIII......Page 112 16. The International Anarchist Defense Committee......Page 120 17. The Anarcho-Communist Union and the Poincaré government......Page 124 18. The anti-parliamentarianism of Louis Lecoin......Page 131 19. Emilienne, Berthe,and Nestor Makhno......Page 137 20. Lyon, and in prison again......Page 143 21. Clandestine in Europe......Page 150 22. The fall of Primo de Rivera......Page 158 23. The Murder of Fermín Galán......Page 162 24. “Viva Macià! Death to Cambó!”......Page 172 25. The new government and its political program......Page 176 SECOND PART: The Militant......Page 204 1. April 14, 193931......Page 206 2. Before May 1: the Forces in Play......Page 213 3. May 1, 1931......Page 220 4. The Nosotros group faces the CNT and the Republic......Page 228 5. The FAI and the CNT meet......Page 236 6. The republic’s social policy and the CNT......Page 243 7. In the middle of a storm without a compass......Page 250 8. Durruti and García Oliver respond to “The Thirty”......Page 258 9. Two paradoxical processes: Alfonso XIII and the Gijón bank......Page 265 10. The insurrection in Alto Llobregat......Page 274 11. The steamship Buenos Aires......Page 279 12. Guinea - Fernando Poo – The Canaries......Page 284 13. Split in the CNT......Page 294 14. The insurrectional cycle......Page 302 15. Prisoner in El Puerto de Santa María......Page 311 16. From electoral strike to insurrection......Page 321 17. Socialism, absent in december 1933......Page 334 18. The general strike in Zaragoza......Page 343 19. A historic meeting between the CNT and Companys......Page 349 20. From the damm boycott to the cells of the headquarters......Page 354 21. October 6 in Barcelona: against whom?......Page 362 22. The Asturian Commune......Page 368 23. “Peace and order reign in Asturias”......Page 375 24. “Banditry, no; collective expropriation, yes!”......Page 379 25. Toward the “Popular Front”......Page 385 26. The CNT judges Durruti......Page 390 27. February 16, 1936......Page 398 28. The Fourth Congress of the CNT......Page 406 29. The long wait for July 19, 1936......Page 411 THIRD PART: The revolutionary: From july 19 to november 20, 1936......Page 442 1. Barcelona in flames......Page 444 2. General Goded surrenders......Page 451 3. The death of Ascaso......Page 458 4. July 20......Page 463 5. Lluís Companys confronts the CNT, and the CNT confronts itself......Page 470 6. The Central Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias of Catalonia......Page 476 7. The Durruti-García Oliver offensive......Page 486 8. The Durruti Column......Page 495 9. “The clandestine revolution”......Page 506 10. Koltsov visits the Durruti Column......Page 516 11. Largo Caballero, reconstructing the republican state......Page 524 12. García Oliver, Largo Caballero, and the problem of Morocco......Page 530 13. Antonov Ovssenko and García Oliver......Page 538 14. The spanish gold road to Russia......Page 544 15. The Libertarian Confederation of Aragón......Page 553 16. Stalin’s shadow over Spain......Page 562 17. “Viva Madrid without government!”......Page 575 18. The crossing of the manzanares river......Page 583 19. The Durruti Column in Madrid......Page 590 20. November 19, 1936......Page 602 21. Durruti kills Durruti......Page 610 22. Durruti’s funeral......Page 616 FOURTH PART: The deaths of Durruti......Page 648 Introduction......Page 650 1. The first versions......Page 652 2. Fact or fiction?......Page 663 3. Contradictions and fabrications in the presented versions......Page 674 4. Durruti’s second death, or his political assassination......Page 684 5. Conclusion......Page 688 APPENDIX: The jigsaw puzzle of the search for Durruti’s body......Page 691 Afterword......Page 720 Afterward......Page 722 Part 1 - The Rebel......Page 746 Part 2 - The Militant......Page 758 Part 3 - The Revolutionary......Page 768 Part 4 - The deaths of Durruti......Page 781