While the Popular Front Goons Massacre Proletarians in the Streets of Barcelona

Introduction

We take from the “Boletin de Informacion” of Barcelona (No. 255 of May 11), the following Manifesto that was published, in the aftermath of the massacres perpetuated in Barcelona on May 4, by the National Confederation of Labor, the Iberian Anarchist Federation and the Libertarian Youth (after the purge). On May 4, the Popular Front government of Valencia, in cahoots with Companys, carried out the first massacre heralded by the dispatch of the new police chief and his guarantee to “maintain order”. A real pogrom of which the “extremists” were the victims, that is the anarchists of the “Friends of Durruti”, the Libertarian Youth, the proletarians who tried to find their class way back. Berneri was murdered in real fascist fashion: they took him home and he was found, riddled with bullets, at the Morgue. In the streets of Barcelona, the members of the Libertarian Youth were shot down like rabid dogs. And the CNT-FAI, in the aftermath of these monstrous massacres, were quick to distance themselves from any responsibility with those massacred by the bourgeois hyena. They hasten to swear that they do not want to break with Valencia, that they do not want to break with Barcelona, that they continue to be faithful in the “anti-fascist front”, that is, the sacred union with the bourgeoisie. They glorify themselves for having acted as firemen: they prevented the armed forces controlled by them from intervening in the conflict, they sabotaged the general strike, they facilitated the arrival of the armed forces sent from Valencia to “re-establish order”. A “Warsaw order”. The crushing of the reaction of the proletariat against the ongoing treason of the joint forces of both old and new traitors. They authorized only a defensive; that is, the right of their adherents to defend their lives against armed aggression. But nothing more. For the anarchists of the CNT-FAI, the “only enemy” remains “fascism”. Even now that the “democracy” that is expressed in the “Popular Front”, has perpetrated this bloodbath. And here is the Manifesto, which we reproduce in its entirety, limiting ourselves to underlining a few passages that seem to us the most salient and that deserve to be considered.

To the Workers and Public Opinion Around the World

While the tragic events in Barcelona lasted, provoked by a few foolish people who infiltrated into the anti-fascist ranks, public opinion was very incompletely informed about what was happening in Spain. The same cowardly elements who had the intention of provoking the massacre in Barcelona, in the same bad faith spread false news abroad, misrepresenting what was happening.

It was said abroad that the CNT-FAI were the instigators of all the trouble; it was said that the anarchists were responsible for the fratricidal struggle that covered the streets of Barcelona in blood; it was also said that the anarchists had attacked the police, the Government of the General Assembly and other state and municipal institutions.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and whoever spreads it intentionally is nothing but a fascist in disguise.

Now that normality has been restored and all those responsible for the insurrection have been exterminated from public life, now that all workers have returned to work and Barcelona has resumed its normal appearance, the CNT-FAI intend to give an explicit explanation of what happened.

We are authorized to state that neither the CNT nor the FAI nor any other responsible body dependent on these two organizations have broken nor have had the slightest intention of breaking the anti-fascist front. They continue to collaborate, with full loyalty, as they have done until now, with all the political and trade union sectors that constitute the anti-fascist front.

This is proven by the fact that the CNT continues to collaborate with the Republican Government, with the Government of the Generalitat and also collaborates in all the municipalities.

When the conflict was provoked in Barcelona, both the Regional Confederation and the National Confederation provided every facility to the Government in order to resolve it as soon as possible. On the second day, the Secretary of the National Committee of the CNT arrived in Barcelona, as did the Minister of Justice, also an eminent member of the CNT, and both did everything humanly possible to put an end to the fratricidal struggle. In addition to the steps taken towards the responsible elements of the other political sectors, they addressed speeches to the people of Barcelona that everyone was able to hear and that were nothing but calls for peace, harmony, and the unity of the nation against the common enemy that is fascism.

The CNT secretary, Mariano Vasquez, in his speech at the microphone of the General Assembly on May 4, said, among other things: “We must put an end to what is happening as soon as possible. We need to put an end to it so that our comrades at the front know immediately that we have a realistic view of the moment that we’re going through and that they can look confidently toward the enemy instead of having to look back so that we can understand each other. Keep in mind the situation we are in; this unstable situation in the rear cannot be prolonged for a moment longer; fascism must not nurture this confidence. Cease fire, comrades!”

“But let no one, absolutely no one, intend to take advantage of it. We are gathered here, we must come to a solution; we must come to an agreement and all together, because it is necessary, because the instinct of preservation demands it, to find this point of coincidence between all the anti-fascist forces that make up the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia. We here gathered, particularly the Executive Committee of the UGT and the National Committee of the CNT, have come together to confront the serious situation that Barcelona is going through and we are willing to facilitate the search for the point of coincidence that will allow us to put an end to a situation of which the exclusive beneficiary is our mutual enemy: fascism”.

Not only the National Committee, but also the Regional Committee did everything possible to facilitate the resolution of this conflict.

The CNT’s press in Catalonia launched several manifestos advocating social peace and inviting the population to return to work. The radio broadcasts to the unions, to the defense committees, to committees responsible for other matters, represented nothing but an invitation to social peace and appeasement of souls.

Further proof that the CNT did not seek to break nor did it break with the anti-fascist front is the fact that when the new government of Catalonia was formed on May 5th, the representatives of the CNT of Catalonia provided it with every facility and its Secretary became part of the Government.

We are also authorized to affirm that neither the CNT nor the FAI have ever attacked the public force, nor the institutions of the State, nor the Generalitat. The first shot was not fired from any point where a member of the CNT was responsible, nor from any point under its control.

The responsible members of the CNT who were at the head of the Council of Defense gave orders to all the forces that it lead not to intervene in the conflict. And everyone made sure that these orders were respected.

The comrades in charge of the Confederal Defense Committee ordered all the peripheral sectors of Barcelona not to move and not to respond to the provocation, and these orders were obeyed because no one went to the center from the barricades to react to the provocation.

The Regional Committee of the CNT-FAI gave categorical orders that in the whole of Catalonia no one should move and that order should not be disturbed in any way.

When it came to finding solutions to re-establish normality in Barcelona, the CNT-FAI were the first to offer their collaboration, they were the first to issue the ceasefire order, and they were the first to advocate pacification. When the central government decided to assume responsibility for public order, the CNT was one of the first to place all the forces it controlled at the disposal of the Public Order delegate.

When the central government decided to send armed forces to Barcelona to control the public forces that could not be controlled, the CNT ordered all the district sections to facilitate the passage of these forces to Barcelona and restore order.

From all of this, can anyone say that it was the CNT that provoked the insurrection? Can the CNT be blamed for the bloodshed in the streets of Barcelona?

The CNT-FAI have done nothing more than remain expectant and defensive. When the provocateur Rodriguez Sala sent two assault companies to occupy the Telefonica, the CNT comrades who were in that building defended themselves for four days in those positions. When groups of assault guards, as a result of the provocative work of Aiguadé and his accomplices, attacked the unions and other workers’ institutions in which CNT members were located, they defended themselves. When the same provocateurs attacked the Regional Committee, the militants simply repelled the assault and defended themselves.

The CNT-FAI. not only maintained a defensive position, but did everything possible to restore public order and expose the provocateurs. They pulled many strings, but the CNT remained firm in its position and did not allow itself to be provoked. It did not fall into the trap that had ramifications on a regional, national and international scale, and, maintaining its positions, it did everything necessary so that the provocateurs Rodriguez Sala and Aiguadé were removed from their positions of responsibility. Once this had been achieved, everything was normalized and today the CNT and the UGT, together with the other clearly anti-fascist forces, have constituted a commission that is investigating the events that took place and restoring normality.

Once the causes of the events have been clarified and those responsible for them identified, the people of Barcelona have gone back to work. Everyone, with greater tension and energy, is now devoting their efforts to fighting fascism, because it is the only enemy of the workers of Catalonia.

All the workers of Catalonia have returned to work with these watchwords:
     No more provocateurs in the rearguard!
     Unity between the CNT and the UGT!
     Death to fascism!

Barcelona, May 8, 1937.