Английская Википедия:Friends of Durruti Group

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox political party Шаблон:Platformism sidebar The Friends of Durruti Group (Шаблон:Lang-es) was a Spanish anarchist group commonly known for its participation in the May Days. Named after Buenaventura Durruti, it was founded on 15 March 1937 by Шаблон:Ill and Félix Martínez, who had become disillusioned with the policies of the CNT-FAI's leadership. During the May Days in Barcelona, they actively agitated among the anti-government forces, advocating for the formation of a "revolutionary junta", in close collaboration with Spanish Trotskyists. Following the suppression of the uprising, the group began published the newspaper El Amigo del Pueblo, in which they denounced the CNT-FAI for "collaborationism", resulting in their expulsion from the organisation. Their 1938 pamphlet Towards a Fresh revolution, which reaffirmed their proposals for a revolutionary junta, became an influential text within the anarchist current of platformism. But the group ultimately failed to make a broader impact within the Spanish movement and collapsed by the end of the war.

History

Formation

From the outset of the Spanish Revolution of 1936, elements of the Spanish anarchist movement expressed doubts about and even opposition to the policy of the CNT-FAI leadership.Шаблон:Sfn As the Spanish Civil War dragged on, frustrations emerged within the movement, as they began to feel that they were losing their influence over the direction of events.Шаблон:Sfn This was exacerbated when the CNT joined the Popular Front government, in a move that was rejected by some sections of the anarchist movement.Шаблон:Sfnm In early March 1937, 1,000 militiamen quit the Aragon front in protest of the government's decree for their militarisation into the Spanish Republican Army.Шаблон:Sfn

Файл:Jaime Balius.jpg

Шаблон:Ill, founder and vice-secretary of the Friends of Durruti group

In Barcelona, some members of this current converged into a small group that openly called on the anarchist rank-and-file to disobey the leaders of their organisations.Шаблон:Sfn Three of the leading figures in this group were: Francisco Carreño, an Argentine anarchist that had joined the Durruti Column, but who did not join the fight on the Madrid front; Pablo Ruíz, a textile worker unaffiliated with any anarchist group that many anarchists suspected of being an informant;Шаблон:Sfn and Шаблон:Ill, a former Catalan nationalistШаблон:Sfnm that made his name publishing a series of radical nihilist articles in the CNT's newspaper.Шаблон:Sfn

On 15 March 1937, the Friends of Durruti Group was established by Felix Mártinez and Jaume Balius i Mir, who were associated with the CNT's newspaper Шаблон:Ill. They declared their goal was to combat the CNT-FAI leadership's "counter-revolutionary" policies, publishing a series of pamphlets that argued their cause.Шаблон:Sfnm They also closely allied themselves with the small Trotskyist organization known as the Bolshevik–Leninists,Шаблон:Sfnm who were affiliated with the Fourth International.Шаблон:Sfnm Balius would deny that they shared any members, despite Communist claims that the group was controlled by the Trotskyists.Шаблон:Sfn

From its early days, the group issued pamphlets denouncing the CNT leadership for "collaborationism" with the "Stalinist counter-revolution", instead calling for a government to be constituted solely by the CNT and UGT.Шаблон:Sfn In late April 1937, the group pasted its slogans on walls throughout Barcelona, gaining the support of the POUM, who agreed with their proposals for working-class power.Шаблон:Sfn According to Balius, by the beginning of May 1937, the organisation counted between 4,000 and 5,000 members.Шаблон:Sfn

May Days

Шаблон:Main On 3 May, following an attack against the Telefónica building by the Communist-led Assault Guards, people throughout Barcelona began constructing barricades and a civil conflict erupted between government forces and the anarchists.Шаблон:Sfnm The Friends of Durruti Group, along with their allies in the POUM and the Bolshevik–Leninists, quickly sprang into action.Шаблон:Sfn

When Joan Garcia i Oliver and Federica Montseny appealed for a cease fire,Шаблон:Sfnm the Friends of Durruti and the Bolshevik–Leninists redoubled their efforts to keep the conflict going.Шаблон:Sfn The Friends of Durruti Group distributed leaflets among the barricades, demanding: the disarmament of the state's armed forces; the dissolution of all political parties that opposed them; the execution of the people responsible for the conflict; and the formation of a revolutionary junta,Шаблон:Sfnm in the form of a CNT-FAI-POUM government.Шаблон:Sfnm The POUM published the group's leaflet in their newspaper La Batalla,Шаблон:Sfn and the group quickly received praise for their proposals from the Spanish Trotskyist leader Grandizo Munis,Шаблон:Sfnm who claimed the group's leaflets "corresponded entirely" with the Trotskyists' own leaflets.Шаблон:Sfn

The group's proposal for a Revolutionary Junta, which Spanish journalist Carlos Semprún noted to have only ever existed in "purely theoretical" terms, would have had anarchists and the POUM seize power from the Generalitat de Catalunya and shoot all of their opponents.Шаблон:Sfn But when the group attempted to negotiate the establishment of the Junta with the POUM, they failed to agree on terms. Paul and Clara Thalmann would later note that the collaboration between the Friends of Durruti and the Marxist groups only amounted to distributing each other's leaflets, without any formal alliance being formed.Шаблон:Sfn

For their abortive attempts to form a revolutionary junta, the Friends of Durruti were denounced as agent provocateurs by the CNT-FAI regional committees, who reiterated calls for a cease fire.Шаблон:Sfn This was in turn repudiated by the Friends of Durruti, who claimed "moral authority" and encouraged people to keep fighting the government. The POUM's leadership was likewise criticised by American Trotskyist Felix Morrow, who denounced them for failing to defend the Friends of Durruti from the "slander".Шаблон:Sfn Nevertheless, repeated calls for a ceasefire from both sides brought the armed conflict to an end by 7 May, when revolutionaries withdrew from the barricades and assault guards occupied the city.Шаблон:Sfn

According to historian Robert J. Alexander, the Friends of Durruti Group really "had nothing to do with the May Events", pointing out that they were unsuccessful their appeals that anarchists remain on the barricades.Шаблон:Sfn However, the group would later be blamed for the May uprising by the Communist Party,Шаблон:Sfnm who denounced the group for encouraging "criminal Trotskyism" in Шаблон:Ill.Шаблон:Sfn British Communist John Langdon-Davies even denied the anarchist character of the May Days, claiming it to have actually been a Trotskyist putsch and that the Friends of Durruti were a Trotskyist front organization.Шаблон:Sfn The POUM was also harshly repressed in the wake of the May Days, in a Communist-led campaign that was condemned by both CNT general secretary Marià Rodríguez i Vázquez and the Friends of Durruti, the latter of whom warned that CNT-FAI militants could be targeted next in the political repression campaign.Шаблон:Sfn

Later activity and legacy

In the wake of the May Days, the group began publishing the clandestine newspaper Шаблон:Ill,Шаблон:Sfnm named after the French Revolutionary newspaper L'Ami du peuple.Шаблон:Sfn Their first issue opened by accusing the CNT-FAI regional committees of having "betrayed the workers and the revolution".Шаблон:Sfn This was quickly denounced by the CNT-FAI and the group's members were formally expelled from the anarchist organisations.Шаблон:Sfnm In the pages of Шаблон:Ill, the CNT also labelled Balius himself as a Marxist, a term that Balius rejected but never managed to dispel from the popular consciousness.Шаблон:Sfn AIT representative Helmut Ruediger went further in his own denunciations, characterising the group as "bolshevik-fascist".Шаблон:Sfn

El Amigo del Pueblo continued publication until the end of 1938,Шаблон:Sfn with Balius claiming its peak circulation to be around 15,000.Шаблон:Sfn That year, the group also published its pamphlet Towards a Fresh Revolution,Шаблон:Sfnm which itself circulated between 30,000 and 50,000 copies,Шаблон:Sfn and later came to be known as "the second core text of Platformism".Шаблон:Sfn Drawing from Mikhail Bakunin's proposal for a federated fighting force,Шаблон:Sfn the group reiterated its calls for the establishment of a Revolutionary Junta, capable of managing the war effort and supervising the revolution. Rejecting collaboration with capitalist forces, they also called for the state's arms and finances to be seized, allowing for the restructuring of the armed forces and the economy.Шаблон:Sfn The pamphlet was taken by American Trotskyist Felix Morrow to amount to a "conscious break with the anti-statism of traditional anarchism", due to its advocacy of a revolutionary junta as an organ of power capable of overthrowing capitalism.Шаблон:Sfn Morrow's characterisation was disputed by the South African sociologist Lucien van der Walt, who claimed it instead to represent a "reaffirmation of the traditional perspectives of anarchism", pointing out its basis in anarcho-syndicalism.Шаблон:Sfn

Although the group's analysis of the strategic failings of the Spanish anarchist movement were later taken up by CNT historian José Peirats,Шаблон:Sfn according to Robert J. Alexander, the group "never became a significant force within the anarchist movement."Шаблон:Sfn POUM member Juan Andrade later described the "ultrarevolutionary" Friends of Durruti as "a monument of ideological confusion" that ultimately had no political effect.Шаблон:Sfn Bolshevik-Leninist leader Grandizo Munis himself later praised the group for evolving from anarchism to Marxism, comparing their idea of the revolutionary junta to those of the soviets, while also criticising them for lacking "political clarity".Шаблон:Sfn

Bibliography

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book

Further reading

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book

External links

• Friends of Durruti articles hosted by Libcom.org
• The Friends of Durruti Group: 1937-1939
• Spain 1936 and the Friends of Durruti
• Some issues of the group's newspaper