CARABANCHEL PRISON (Prisión Provincial de Madrid), one of the largest and most notorious prisons in Europe until its closure in 1998, was built between 1940 and 1944 by the slave labour of Franco’s political prisoners. Over the years untold numbers of Franco’s political prisoners were executed here, either by firing squad or by garrotte-vil. The layout followed the panopticon model devised by Liberal reformist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. During the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) and the subsequent ‘Bunker’ period (1975-1981) when Francoists continued to wield overt political power, the prison hosted a large community of political prisoners. Since then, until its closure, only common criminals  on remand and members of the Basque separatist group ETA and other paramilitary groups remained behind its walls. Although the documentary Franco’s Prison – or La Otra Orilla (see FILMS above) was made (by Adolfo Garijo) sometime in the 1990s, the place hadn’t changed much, structurally anyway, since the 1940s. The final TV news footage – Goodbye Carabanchel – shows the prison’s demolition in October 2008.

In 2009 the previously unpublished memoirs of José Peirats (1908-1989), former CNT general secretary and anarchist historian (author of The CNT in the Spanish Revolution, 3 Vols, edited by Chris Ealham, ChristieBooks), were published in Spain in abridged form. They were accompanied by a controversial prologue from Catalan-based historian Enric Ucelay da Cal. While Peirats’ original text was cut, Ucelay’s prologue weighed in at over 100 pages. There are two hallmark’s to Ucelay’s work: his inability to synthesise his ‘ideas’ and his pronounced hostility to anarchism. Peirats, who died in 1989, is unable to respond to this calumny. Instead, we have a rejoinder, in Spanish, to Ucelay from Freddy Gómez Pelaez, editor  of  the French anarchist journal A contretemps, who knew Peirats personally from his time in exile in France. We hope to post an English-language translation of Freddy’s article very soon.

Paul Davis

La segunda muerte de José Peirats (PDF)

REVIEW – Boletín de Orientación Bibliográfica (No. 98-99 – 1974)

Introduction. Ensayos – Rudolf de Jong : El anarquismo en España. Gerard Brey y Jacques Maurice : Casas Viejas: reformismo y anarquismo en Andalucía (1870-1933). Carlos-Peregrín Otero : Noam Chomsky. Chichi : Fora do Seu Papel. Noam Chomsky : Objetividad y cultura liberal Notas sobre anarquismo, Stuart Christie: Sobre presente y futuro del movimiento libertario español

Notas: Carlos da Fonseca : Sobre el proletariado español y la Asociación Internacional de Trabajadores en Portugal. Frank Mintz : La autogestión en la España revolucionaria. Juan García Durán: La CNT y la Alianza Nacional de Fuerzas Democráticas. Fernando Gómez Peláez: De «Soli» a «Frente Libertario»., Publicaciones libertarias en exilio. Albert Meltzer: CNT: lo que muere contra lo que nace. Freddy y Alicia: Apuntes sobre el anarquismo histórico y el neoanarquismo en España

Encuesta: Pasado, presente y futuro del movimiento libertario español Introducción y notas de Cuadernos de Ruedo ibérico
Respuestas de Octavio Alberola, Ramón Alvarez, José Borrás, José Cabañas, José Campos, Salvador Cano, Francisco Carrasquer, Colectivo de jóvenes ácratas, Eugenio Domingo, Víctor García, Juan García Duran, Miguel García, José García Pradas, Freddy Gómez, Juan Lorenzo, José Martin-Artajo, Juan Manuel Molina, Jaime Mora, Mikel Orrantia, Abel Paz y José Peirats

Al margen de la encuesta – Felipe Orero : Consideraciones sobre lo libertario. Diego Abad de Santillán : Ayer, hoy, mañana

Documentos. Salvador Seguí: Misión del sindicalismo Por qué soy sindicalista. ¿Qué fue la FAI ? Testimonio de un fundador. Resumen del acta del Pleno regional de Grupos anarquistas de Cataluña (20-3-1927). Síntesis del acta de la Conferencia nacional de Valencia (24/25-7-1927). ¿Quiénes somos? (Manifiesto). Sentido actual de las enseñanzas de la FAI (Grupos Autónomos de Combate). Una polémica : « treintistas » y « faistas » El manifiesto de los «treinta ». Habla Buenaventura Durruti en nombre de la FAI. Proceso de formación (editorial de Solidaridad Obrera, 2-9-1931). Hablan Piñón y Arín después de la huelga de Barcelona. Habla Juan Peiró sobre el momento revolucionario. Habla García Oliver: La FAI ante el momento español

Libros: Carlos da Fonseca : Dos lecturas: « La revolución de 1868. Historia, pensamiento y literatura» y «Miguel Bakunin, la Internacional y la Alianza en España (1868-1873) » de Max Nettlau. Fernando Claudín : « Los anarquistas españoles y el poder (1888-1969)» de César M. Lorenzo. José Martín-Artajo: Veintidós años en las cárceles de Franco (« Franco’s Prisoner » de Miguel García). Francisco Carrasquer: El gran problema del anarquismo («El pueblo en armas. Durruti», de Abel Paz y « La guerrilla urbana» de Antonio Téllez)

RUEDO IBÉRICO

Raoul Vaneigem‘s classic situationist text — Knowing How To Live or The Revolution of Everyday Life – An Illustrated Reader (Part 1) launches a blistering attack on the reduction of western life to boredom, consumerism, fragmentation, sacrifice, packaged ‘happiness’ and meaningless interactions, while all that is vibrant is deported into the illusion of the spectacle. First published in 1967, the text has proved prophetic about life in the 21st century. Vaneigem’s visionary thoughts have inspired generations of free thinkers. This reader is complemented by a ‘spectacular’ set of original photographs.

‘… affluence and its comforts are only the children of capitalist productivity, children doomed to age prematurely as soon as the marketing system has transformed them into mere objects of passive consumption.’

‘We have nothing in common except the illusion of being together. Certainly the seeds of an authentic collective life are lying dormant within the illusion itself – there is no illusion without a real basis – but real community remains to be created.’

Hans Ulrich Obrist In Conversation (May 2009) with Raoul Vaneigem (PDF)

1) Ejecución Pública sung by Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio (see FILMS above)

Spanish singer songwriter Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio (1940-2003) sings of the agonies of those condemned to be legally murdered. Chicho was a Spanish singer/songwriter of countless well-known songs, many of which were recorded by other artists such as Rolando Alarcón, Joan Baez, Soledad Bravo, Víctor Jara and Quilapayún. Many of his songs such as Gallo rojo, gallo negro, Hoy no me levanto yo, Balada de las Prisiones and A la huelga have passed into popular Spanish culture. Chicho, an anarchist, was the son of Rafael Sánchez Maza,  writer and founder member of  the Falange Española , brother of the author Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, and brother of the mathematician and philosopher Miguel Sánchez-Mazas Ferlosio.

2) The Case of Delgado and Granado (see FILMS above)

Short TV news report on the campaign to establish the innocence of Joaquin Delgado and Francisco Granado. Includes interviews with Octavio Alberola, the coordinator of the clandestine organisation ‘Defensa Interior‘ dedicated to assasinating the dictator and toppling the regime, and Antonio Martin and Sergio Hernandez, the two anarchists, responsible for the bombs for which Delgado and Granado were executed in August 1963

Los Espías de Franco (Franco’s Spies) is a fascinating Spanish-language documentary by libertarian film-maker Xavier Montanyá on the role of Franco’s foreign intelligence service operations in France – the Servicio de Información de la Frontera del Norte de España (SIFNE), which, after 1938, changed its name to the Servicio de Informacion Politico-Militar (SIPM). SIFNE was organised and headed by Josep Bertrán i Musito, head of the Catalan somatén, armed parapolitical auxilliaries in the service of the employers and large landowners. Previously, Bertrán i Musito was the architect of pistolerismo, the strategy of murdering  labour activists in the period 1919-1924. (What a pity the CNT defence groups didn’t get the bastard then!) Montanya’s film contains recently-discovered footage which highlights the support Franco received from the Nazi and fascist regimes, and from ultra-right and fascist groups in France such as the Croix-de-Feu and La Cagoule.

Tomando como hilo conductor la actividad de algunos de los principales organizadores, el documental sigue de cerca la historia del político Josep Bertran y Musitu, el abogado José Quiñones de León, Jorge Utrillo, y José Campos. Cuatro perfiles diferentes que van desde el hombre de negocios que se aprovecha de la situación para lucro personal hasta el espía en zona republicana o el aristócrata con buenas relaciones alemanas e italianas. Además y de forma paralela, la producción explica cómo se creó y financió esta red que transmitía información a los nacionales desde lugares estratégicos como la ciudad francesa de Marsella. Desde allí, los espías enviaban información sobre los buques que llegaban a puerto o zarpaban con mercancías y armas para abastecer a los republicanos. Asimismo y gracias a esta ubicación, también podían conocer de primera mano los movimientos de miembros republicanos de interés para el gobierno de Franco en el país vecino.

Following the bizarre ritual murder of Italian banker and Lodge P2 member Roberto Calvi in London in June 1982, London magazine City Limits commissioned me to look at the history and power base of the masonic ‘Brotherhood’. This slightly updated version appeared in The Hastings Trawler in 2006:

If secrecy is to be considered a factor in British politics and commerce then without doubt Freemasonry is one of its principal vehicles. Freemasonry is the largest semi-covert organisation of the western bourgeoisie, with over six million members worldwide sharing a vision of a unified world order bound together through a series of interlocking Masonic alliances. Among the world’s most influential institutions is the United Grand Lodge of England, the mother lodge of Craft Freemasonry, with its headquarters at Freemasons’ Hall in Great Queen Street near Covent Garden. It is here that the wealthy and influential members of the British Establishment meet in conditions of ritual secrecy, ostensibly to listen to lectures on Masonic history and to discuss charitable and other Masonic business. In practice, the Masonic brotherhood constitutes a clandestine network for the defence of the status quo and established privilege, in other words — a mutual aid society for the British ruling class.

A WINK, A NOD … OR A SHAKE OF THE HAND (PDF)

Edwin Morgan - June 2009 (Iain Clark)

I took Edwin’s portrait in June 2009. I had been trying to organise it for a while and had visited him a couple of months earlier to introduce myself and take a look at his room in the care home. He had a nice room, he was surrounded by his books and a few other possessions. He was so gentle and had a strange combination of steeliness and humour in his eyes. It seemed to me that here was a man who had lived a satisfying life and was content to see out his remaining days in peace. Iain Clark

EULOGY by George Reid, 26 August 2010, Glasgow University

IN MEMORIAM – Edwin Morgan (1920-2010) BELLA CALEDONIA

Since the birth of speculative freemasonry in the early 17th century, large numbers of intelligent and otherwise well-informed, sane and sensible people have believed that much of what was happening around them only occurred because it was set in motion by secret societies, the motors of history. Many still believe that virtually everything unpleasant that happens can be attributed to them, and that there is an occult force operating behind the seemingly real facade of public and political life. What has been written so far about the so-called ‘Priory of Sion’ and the ‘Da Vinci Code’ is a monumental example of a view of the world shaped by hocus-pocus and irrationality, and even though it is sometimes amusing, it is always disturbing when intelligent people seriously talk nonsense, taking fiction for reality. As many of these authors have found out to their advantage, it never pays to underestimate people’s credulity. The Da Vinci Code and its successor titles have been translated into more than 40 million languages and sold countless millions of copies worldwide… now read on.

The Da Vinci Con (PDF) Originally published in The Hastings Trawler, April 2006