With forty years of fighting, of exile, of jailings, of living underground, of strikes, and of insurrection, Beunaventura Durutti, the legendary Spanish revolutionary and Anarchist lived many lives. Uncompromising, intransigent revolutionary, he travelled a long road from rebellious young worker to the man who refused all bureacratic positions, honours, awards, and who at death was mourned by millions of women and men. Durutti believed and lived his belief that revolution and freedom were inseperable.
He was born 14 July 1896 in León, northwest Spain, as the second of eight boys born to Anastasia Dumangue, and Santiago Durruti, a railway worker and self-described socialist. Aged 14 he leaves school to become a trainee mechanic in the railway with his father. The pair became members of the UGT, Unión General de Trabajadores (socialist General Workers Union). This quiet start to life changed in August 1917, when the UGT took part in a strike, when the government struck down an agreement between unions and their employers. This soon became a general strike throughout the area. The government brought in the army and within three days the strikers had been crushed. The troops behaved with extreme brutality, killing 70 and wounding 500 workers. 2,000 strikers were jailed. without being tried for any crime.
Young Durruti managed to escape the fighting, and exiled himself to France for safety, where he came into contact with exiled anarchists, whose influence led to him joining the anarchist CNT union upon his return in January 1919. He joins the fight against dictatorial employers in the Asturian mines and is arrested for the first time in March 1919; he escapes and over the next decade and a half he throws himself into activity for the CNT and for the anarchist movement.
These years see him involved in several strikes and being forced into exile. Unwittingly the Spanish government ‘exported’ rebellion, as Durruti and his close friend Francisco Ascaso happily joined the struggle for freedom wherever they ended up, in both Europe and Latin America.
The Spanish monarchy fell in 1931 and Durruti moved to Barcelona; accompanied by his French companion Emilienne, pregnant with their daughter Colette. He joined the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI), a specifically anarchist organization, and together with other militants they form the ‘Nosotros’ group. These were members within the CNT of a radical tendency that harboured no illusions with respect to the recently proclaimed Republic, maintaining that the moment was ripe for continued progress towards a social revolution.
With the electoral victory by the liberal/reformist Popular Front in February 1936, Left and Right were on a collision course, initiated very rapidly by Franco’s military rebellion on July 19th 1936. The CNT and the FAI confronted the army with courage, organization and mass mobilizations.
They triumphed in much of Spain despite the fascist superiority in weapons and resources. The anarchist contribution was decisive in resisting the fascists throughout the country and in Catalonia defeated the rebels singlehandedly, Durruti being one of the boldest fighters in this battle.
Jose Buenaventura Durruti, always fought for the poor and downtrodden, and against the State, whether of the social democratic, fascist or marxist varieties When Spanish fascists attempted to overthrow the Republican government on July 19th 1936, Durruti and other comrades helped put down the uprising in Barclenoa. He became a member of the Anti fascist Militia Committee and led the "Durruti" Column an almost mythical group of CNT militants to the Zaragoza front. The Durruti column was able to liberate much of Aragon. He was an inspiration to many as a partisan of the Spanish people with an internationalist vision, who for him personally revolutionary thought and action went hand in hand.
In 1936, after the liberation of Aragon from Franco's forces, Durruti was interviewed by Pierre van Paasen of the Toronto Star. In this interview he gives his views on Fascism, government and social revolution despite the fact that his remarks have only been reported in English - and were never actually written down by him in his native Spanish, well worth reading and can be found here https://libcom.org/history/buenaventura-durruti-interview-pierre-van-paasen
At the beginning of November 1936, Franco's four armies, made up mostly of Moroccans and Legionaires, converged on Madrid. The battle began on November 8th. It was basically a struggle between a well-equipped army supported by German and Italian bombers on one side, and an ill-armed mass of urban workers on the other. There were many women fighting on the republican side. Moreover, in Madrid the Communists were relatively stronger and better organised; they were also supported by various International Brigades.
The battle continued unabated. Franco said that he would rather destroy Madrid completely than leave it to the Marxists. German Nazi troops of the Condor Legion planned to set the city on fire, quarter by quarter. On 14th November Durutti arrived in Madrid from Aragon,by air with 5,000 men (numbers vary according to different accounts).
The column had to go by train as all the railway tracks had been bombed. He went to the frontline on the 16th. From November 16th onwards Madrid was bombed by German planes day and night. In three nights alone over 1,000 people were killed by the bombs. Furthermore, Madrid was cut off from the rest of Spain. In this situation of desperate crisis, Durruti decided to move 4,000 members of his Column from Aragon across the country to help relieve Madrid.
His arrival had a tremendous effect on the besieged workers of the city. It saved Madrid, at least for a while. But tragically on November 19th, just as he was getting out of a car, he was shot by a sniper, receiving a bullet to his chest, as he rallied his militia to continue their resistance after days of fighting without respite. he died the following day, at the age of 40. His death was a tragedy for all free thinkers, in the fight against fascist tyranny. His death was also a turning point in the Spanish Revolution and one of the events that lead to the defeat of the revolution.
His body was returned to Barcelona accompanied by a number of his closest comrades. with over 500,000 people taking to the streets on November 22 1936 to follow his funeral procession, the biggest funeral in Spanish history, a tribute to the place he played in peoples hearts, his coffin draped with the familiar diagonal red and black flag. A hero to the Spanish working class ,and today Durruti remains a lasting icon of anarchism, both in Spain and around the world, a man who.was determined to leave this world a better place than when he entered it. With the rise again of the far right, no better time than to remember this inspirational man who died fighting against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Many years later "we carry a new world, here in our hearts."
Durruti's grave at Montjuïc Cemetery, Barcelona
Further reading:-
Daniel Guerin - No Gods, no masters; 2006
Durruti - The people Armed - Abel Paz
Durruti in the Spanish Revolution - Abel Paz
Spanish Civil War (1936-37) (Buenaventura Durruti)
Spanish Revolution 1936-1937 (Buenaventura Durruti)
The film above shows the period of revolution that gave in Spain in the years of civil war, and highlights the hero killed by the bourgeoisie (Buenaventura Durruti).and how social peace was achieved thanks to the collectivization of land and the elimination of social classes.
The film above shows the period of revolution that gave in Spain in the years of civil war, and highlights the hero killed by the bourgeoisie (Buenaventura Durruti).and how social peace was achieved thanks to the collectivization of land and the elimination of social classes.
Living Utopia - The Anarchists and the Spanish Revolution
Living Utopia is a unique documentary that blends the historical account of the origins and development of the Spanish anarchist movement, focussing on the 1936 war. A reflection on the philosophical underpinnings of such a movement and their practical application. As both an informative and inspiring piece of research it is considered a jewel amongst historians and rebel hearts.
This documentary-film by Juan Gamero consists of 30 interviews with survivors of the 1936-1939 Spanish Revolution, and is one of the best documentaries dealing with the theme. The testimony of the anarchist militants are very moving indeed, and are showing the constructive work of the social revolution in Spain. This "Anarchy in Action" meant: on the land around 7 million peasants form collectives, in the city 3000 workplaces collectivised, 150 000 join the anarchist militias to fight fascism, as well as cultural activities and the movement of the Mujeres Libres to free the women from patriarchy.
Spanish with english subtitles
" We have always loved in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how to accommodate ourselves for time. For you must not forget we can also build. It is we who built the palaces and cities here in Spain and America and everywhere. We the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones. We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth. There is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world, here in our hearts. That world is growing every minute."
-Jose Buenaventura Durruti , Spain, Aragon , 1936
This documentary-film by Juan Gamero consists of 30 interviews with survivors of the 1936-1939 Spanish Revolution, and is one of the best documentaries dealing with the theme. The testimony of the anarchist militants are very moving indeed, and are showing the constructive work of the social revolution in Spain. This "Anarchy in Action" meant: on the land around 7 million peasants form collectives, in the city 3000 workplaces collectivised, 150 000 join the anarchist militias to fight fascism, as well as cultural activities and the movement of the Mujeres Libres to free the women from patriarchy.
Spanish with english subtitles
-Jose Buenaventura Durruti , Spain, Aragon , 1936
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