Sabaté Guerrilla Extraordinary

Library.Anarhija.Net Sabaté Guerrilla Extraordinary Antonio Téllez Solà Antonio Téllez Solà Sabaté Guerrilla Extraordinary Retrieved on January 29th, 2017 from http:// archive.elephanteditions.net/library/antonio-tellez-sola-sabate First published in Great Britain, 1974 by Cienfuegos Press (London). Translated by Stuart Christie. Published by Elephant Editions / Refract Publications London 1985, introduction by Alfredo M. Bonanno. Cover by Clifford Harper. lib.anarhija.net It pains me to undo all those illusions which lately you have built up—of my returning to live happily with you and the children. I repeat what I said in my first letters to you—try to keep close to my parents and the rest of the family. In particular fond regards to your brother and his family, also to Contents the nephews and their mother. To my mother I would ask you to give her a warm embrace for me and to you and our dearly beloved Introduction 4 children I send the last embrace my heart can send you, kisses, kisses, kisses, and my last farewell, 1. Sabaté 8 Pepe. Torres was born on 5 November 1933 in Hospitalet de Llobregat 2. The Civil War 21 (Barcelona) and lived in Dijon where he worked as a bricklayer. He had deserted from the Spanish Army and went to France in 1956. 3. The Second World War 36 Alvarez was born in Barcelona on 21 December 1921, and went 4. Hopes 39 to France in I950 where he worked as a driver. Montoya was born in Provins (Seine & Marne) on 13 April 1939. 5. Confusion 46 He was French born of Spanish parents and lived in Lyons. 6. Action 53 7 Problems in France 66 8. Terror in Barcelona 76 9. Extermination 95 10. Complications 109 11. Despair 116 12. Death 161 Epilogue 186 2 191 The persistent ones finish in the hands of the terror- With this, the first in our edition of anarchist pocketbooks, we ist State, while the terrorist but passive ideologues and are opening the way to a series of instruments for use by anarchist terror-inspired masses keep away from danger while comrades and all those who have decided to make their desire for applauding these isolated fighters, but never ready freedom become reality. The series will be as many-faceted asan- themselves, these shy inhibited ones, to take direct part archism itself, offering a critique of the great institutions of oppres- in the struggle. sion: religion, economics, authority, ideology, even in their most subtle forms; a look at the field of art and aesthetics; at moments in Slowly, the Organisation in Paris took the decision to vindicate the past where freedom was fought for and won, trying to see where Sabaté publicly—although always with a certain discretion. A doc- things went wrong and what we can still apply today; proposals of ument issued by it stated that ‘Francisco Sabaté Llopart was never, new methods of struggle to be discussed and experimented. as stated by sections of the press and radio, a “bandit”. He was a We are doing this as a contribution to the struggle that is always militant of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Action Groups and was killed in course, not as something separate to be set aside and chewed by the fascist forces of General Franco because of his struggle for upon while we wait for better times. The value of this contribu- the freedom of Spain.’ tion to the great task of revolution depends therefore not only upon In Paris too, not elsewhere, they began a collection for the fami- our own efforts and constancy, but also on the comrades we reach: lies of El Quico and his four comrades. But at no point did they wish that you do not treat these pages as a commodity, but enter into a to concede the same honours to José Lluis Facerías, who had fallen living dialogue where words and deeds confuse themselves in the in the same struggle, but perhaps in less spectacular circumstances, great turmoil of destruction and creation that knows no bounds and or even to Goliardo Fiaschi, at present in the Italian prison of Lecce, which with reason and passion we call anarchy. fifteen years later, handed over from a Spanish jail to an Italianone, The present volume is therefore not a history book full ofmum- a living symbol of the victims of the unity between Franco’s Spain mies to be taken out, dusted, then returned to the order of the past. and Fascist Italy. On the contrary, a dynamic reading of the experiences of Sabaté and But the sincerest tribute to Sabaté was the fact that his enemies others could be a force in the moving of the somewhat still waters in Spain celebrated his defeat with medals and honours for the po- of the present. lice service. The press carried full reports supplied to it by Police Elephant Editions Headquarters and the Directorate of Security. One and all referred to their fallen enemy as the terrible bandit Francisco Sabaté Llopart. I have here some lines from the last letter he wrote to his wife—a few hours before he faced the firing squad: Dearest wife, These last few hours of my life that I have left I dedicate tothink- ing of you and our wonderful daughters. Today will see the culmi- nation of the fears that must have been apparent in all my letters. 190 3 words, felt ashamed to be alive when his brothers and most of his comrades had been murdered… The broadcast ended with these words: ‘You have just heardour reporter Rade Nikolic give a talk on the life of the Catalan revolu- Introduction tionary Francisco Sabaté.’ A few days later a Zagreb daily newspaper, Vjemik u Sridjedu This book tells of the life, the action and the death of an anarchist (20 January, 1960) published an illustrated article on Sabaté entitled guerilla. ‘El Quico, fought for twenty-four years. The death of a legendary Many things have happened since it was first published at the combatant against the Franco tyranny.’ end of the sixties, and experience of armed struggle in Europe is no Soon, too, the more scrupulous newspapers of the bourgeois longer limited to that of the comrades who carried on the struggle press began to look at Sabaté with more respect. Behind the lies against Francoist Spain. But that does not in the least detract from and distortions they began to perceive the silhouette of a guerrilla the theoretical and practical importance of Sabaté’s actions, and the and view with sympathy the real Sabaté, the man of the libertarian value of this book in particular. resistance, ‘Public Enemy No. 1’ of Franco’s Fascist State. The discourse could be a long one, but let us try to shorten itso But perhaps the best epitaph was written eight years before as not to complicate things. Sabaté’s death. This is what Felipe Alaiz de Pablo2 wrote in issue It would seem that all anarchists should agree on certain points; number 368 of Solidaridad Obrera, published in Paris, 15 March not hold exactly the same opinion, but at least be without any major 1952: contradictions. The first such issue is that of attacking the classen- emy (i.e. the exploiter), both in the macroscopic aspect of the State Rightly or wrongly, anxious or not for fame and histori- and in the microscopic one of the individuals responsible for ex- cal renown, perhaps more sentimentally than coolly in- ploitation. Yet when a comrade organises to pass from words to clined towards an absolute nihilism, probably scornful deed, those who come forward with doubts, perplexity, suspicion, of the gregarious and passive mass for whom they sac- uncertainty, are never lacking. There are always some anarchist rifice themselves without expecting help from it, more comrades who have turned their anarchism into a kind of wind- attached sometimes to anonymity than to an accumula- shield to hide their own weakness and compromise. They obviously tion of redentorist reverence—for religions are founded cannot approve of anyone who contributes to unmasking them with upon the spectacular sacrifice of one, and only one, in their actions, of who, by attacking the enemy rouses the still waters favour of the comfort and passivity of the rest—the ac- of sleep, often attracting the attention of the forces of repression. tivists, facing danger, dedicate their lives to their cause, Such criticism as, “The time isn’t right”, “These things are only and with their own lives pay. done when the revolution is near”, “We must wait to be sure the masses are with us”, are constantly aimed at the comrade who in- 2 Felipe Alaiz, Anarchist writer and journalist, was born in Alarbate de tends to act now, right away. Linea (Huesca). He died in Paris at the age of seventy-two on 8 April, I959. 4 189 of hypocrisy. It carried a photograph of Sabaté, but no article or As far as Sabaté’s actions are concerned, he, in practice, was left any reference to his struggle. Instead, it confined itself to refuting a alone with only a few comrades who from time to time united with sentence which the international press had claimed were Sabaté’s him individually to continue the struggle. But these actions had to last words—‘Viva la muerte’.1 take place inside Spain. When it came to wanting to do something The article concluded the gross insult to Sabaté’s memory with outside to strike the fascist regime, there was a flood of disagree- the pious truism: ‘The Anarchist fights for everyone’s life and in ment.

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