The Truth About Spain - Rudolph Rocker Pamphlet about the Spanish Civil War and Left-Wing unions rising up to fight Fasicm

"THE TRUTH ABOUT SPAIN

by Rudolph Rocker

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, peasants and intellectuals against the Fascist bandits is that of a refreshing thunderstorm. It is the first time since Fascism made it's appearance in Europe that the entire population of a country offered such a spirited resistance to imminent danger. That is why the example of these struggles is international in its significance, far transcending in scope the frontiers of one country.

The desperate struggle is the common cause of all movements that do not want to fall under the bloody yoke of Fascism. Yet one must single out the surpassing promptness of action shown by the C.N.T. [Confederación Nacional del Trabajo or National Confederation of Labor] and the F.A.I. [Federación Anarquista Ibérica or Iberian Anarchist Federation], which from the very beginning imparted a momentum to the struggle, enabling it to banish the bloody specter of Fascism from the gates of Catalonia.

It was the plan of the plotting militarists to seize all the important points by a strategy of surprise which would render inevitable the fall of Madrid. The most important link in this plot was the crushing of Catalonia, the fortress of the revolutionary labor movement of Spain, so as to cut off the capital from all the large cities. Catalonia is the center of Spanish industry and also the most highly developed province in respect to culture and spiritual life. The fall of Barcelona, the largest city of Spain, would have rendered impossible any prolonged resistance to the Fascists. That is why General Goded flew in haste to Barcelona in order to lead the revolt in person.

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 Matare and the liberation of the whole Catalonian province from Fascist hangmen. the workers militia soon comprised 20,000 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 the 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 Fascists."