Antonia Fontanillas Borras was born in 1917 in Madrid on 29th May. ---- She was born into
an anarchist family, both her parents being anarchists and her grandmother and grandfather
were the noted militants Francesca Saperas Miro and Martin Borras Jover. Antonia
Fontanillas emigrated with her mother and brothers to Mexico in 1925, followed by her
father. She attended school there for six years and became an avid reader, especially of
anarchist and social literature. When her father was expelled from Mexico, the family
followed him to Catalonia in 1934. ---- Antonia found work in a lithographic company and
joined both the CNT and the Libertarian Youth (FIJL) in 1936. She was elected delegate of
the Libertarian Youth for the Graphic Arts. ---- When the Spanish Revolution and Civil War
broke out she attempted to join a militia in the expeditionary force to free Mallorca from
the Francoists but was unsuccessful and worked as an administrator in the offices of the
CNT paper Solidaridad Obrera in Barcelona.
With the triumph of Franco she went underground, working with the secret network of FIJL
militants and composing several issues of the now illegal Solidaridad Obrera from her
home. At least 14 issues of the paper appeared between January and November 1945. The
paper was printed on the little press of the anarchist Armengol in the Gracia
neighbourhood and was written by FIJL members Juan Domenech, Jose Lamesa and Arturo
Benedicto, members of the graphic arts syndicat and composed and laid out by the FIJL
militant Jose Nieto.
Domenech was arrested on 7th November 1945, followed by that of Lamesa who was brought by
the secret police to Antonia?s home. They discovered insignia of the CNT, FIJL and SIA
(International Antifascist Solidarity). Antonia remarked that everyone had them before.
She and Lamesa were taken to the police station where they were questioned about the
whereabouts of the print shop. Fortunately she was not charged but the publishing of
?Soli? came to an end.
In the following years Antonia collaborated with others in bringing out the underground
paper Ruta between 1946 and 1948 (15 issues between June and November 1946, and at least 5
between March 1947 and May 1948). She was also responsible for coordinating contact
between anarchist prisoners and their lawyers in this period. Two thousand copies were
regularly printed and distributed by the underground groups in various neighbourhoods of
Barcelona.
In this period of underground work Antonia became the companion of the anarchist militant
Diego Camacho Escamez, become first acquainted with him when he was imprisoned in 1948.
When Camacho was released from prison in 1952, they both went into exile in France the
following year, settling first at Brezolles and then in Clermont Ferrand in 1954.
Antonia continued her activity with the FIJL and in the CNT.She was also active in the
local arts group. She established contact with the anarchist guerrilla group animated by
Sabat? (El Quico) which carried out actions in Spain.
In 1957 she was responsible for bringing out the Regional Bulletin of the FIJL and took
part in all the annual summer camps organised jointly by the FIJL and French anarchist
youth groups.
She separated from Camacho in 1958 and went to live in Dreux with her son Ariel. Here she
continued her activity with the FIJL and on the International Secretariat of the CNT.
Together with Antonio Rodriguez Ca?ete, with whom she established a relationship, she
formed the Alfa group of the Federacion Anarquista Iberica in 1960. She was involved in a
wide range of propaganda and cultural activities, including taking part in a theatrical
group. She was a militant of the local federation of the CNT in Dreux until its
dissolution. After these she was active in the Agrupaciones Confederales formed of groups
that supported the newspaper Frente Libertario. She edited the newsletter Surco between
1966 and 1967 (seven issues) which was published in French, Spanish and Esperanto.
In 1966 her partner Antonio was arrested in Spain and served 3 years in prison. Antonia
remained with him until his death in 1979.
After the death of Franco Antonia attended all the CNT congresses between 1979 and 1983,
and after the split, all the conferences of the CGT between 1083 and 1997. She also took
part in many other conferences, exhibitions, meetings and seminars. She worked for the
CIRA (International Centre for Research on Anarchism) and engaged in a large amount of
historical research on anarchism.
Under various pseudonyms (like Tona, A F Borras etc.) she contributed to many anarchist
papers. These included: Action Libertaire, Anthropos, Boletin Amicale, Boletin
Rodano-Alpes, CIRA Marseille, Le Combat Syndicaliste, Confrontacion, Espoir, Mujeres
Libertarias de Madrid, El Chico, Nueva Senda, Rojo y Negra, Volont?, CNT, etc. She also
penned a number of books, on various Spanish anarchists, including one co-written with
Sonya Torres on the great anarchist Lola Iturbe in 2006. She also contributed to the
special centenary issue of Solidaridad Obrera published by the CNT in 2007 and to a
conference organised by the CGT on the history of Mujeres Libres in the same year.
She died on September 23rd 2014.
As Jose Luis Gutierrez Molina noted, with her death, "goes one who, through her activity
and her family line, represents the history of anarchism in Spain."
Nick Heath
Sources:
http://losdelasierra.info/spip.php?article2616
http://puertoreal.cnt.es/es/bilbiografias-anarquistas/3631-antonia-fontanillas-borras-militante-anarquista.html
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» (en) Spain, Obituary, A short biography of Spanish anarchist militant Antonia Fontanillas Borras (1917-2014) aka Aurora, Tona