(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #244 - Read Octavio
Alberola, Arianne Gransac "Anarchists against Franco, International
Revolutionary Action 1961-1975" (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]
From the popular and revolutionary uprising in July 1936 Retirada 1939 through the bloody
days of May 1937 in Barcelona, the Spanish Civil War has its great dates. But the conflict
he really stops with the military defeat of the Republican army? The powerful Spanish
anarchist movement he was defeated for good? ---- It is now accepted that the Spaniards of
Nueve participated in the liberation of Paris. They are the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, by
the thousands as Spanish refugees in France took to the hills, especially in the border
departments. But past the excitement of the release and adventurist and murderous
attempted invasion of Spain by the Aran Valley, the prospects for overthrow Franco recede
gradually as it is clear that the Allies n 'have no intention to remove that which arises
bulwark to Communism which progresses throughout Europe.
It was then time heroic but futile epics that cost the lives of dozens of young Spaniards,
the most famous was Sabat?.
Meanwhile, anarchist organizations rebuilt in exile, not without difficulties. Divided
into two branches, the CNT was reunifying and enjoyed the 1961 conference to create the DI
(Defensa Interior), a clandestine organization whose members are responsible for
coordinating the armed struggle against the Franco regime.
Octavio Alberola is one of them. In the book co-authored with Arianne Gransac he tells
infighting, the difficulties and the few successes of the group that is part of an era in
motion. Soon, the explosion of May 68 will bring out all sides groups of young Europeans
willing to engage in arms for a cause.
In this rich, meticulous testimony (sometimes too), the authors give us their vision of a
little known history. While enjoying a new introduction and a chapter on the transition
between 1975 and the 2000s, this book, written in 1975 is not a cold analysis of the
period but must be approached as that it is a document delivered by actors of the period
and should therefore be treated like any historical document.
Arthur (AL Paris Sud)
Octavio Alberola, Arianne Gransac, Anarchists against Franco, International Revolutionary
Action 1961-1975 , Albache Editions, Paris, 2014, 284 pages, 20 euros.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Lire-Octavio-Alberola-Arianne
