Britain, AFED Organise! #82 - Review: Anarchism in Galicia: Organisation, Resistance and Women in the Underground

Essays by Eliseo Fernandez, Anton Briallos and Carmen BIanco. Edited and translated by 
Paul Sharkey. Kate Sharpley Library. 58 pages. ---- This little pamphlet tells the story 
of the development of anarchism in the northern region of Galicia in Spain in late 19th 
century up to its repression under the Franco terror. ---- Fernandez?s essay deals with 
the construction of both the specific anarchist organisation, the Federacion Anarquista 
Iberica, and the mass anarcho-syndicalist union, the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo. 
In Galicia, some of the local anarchist groups were reluctant to join a peninsular 
organisation, as in La Coruna. The problem of anarchist groups not affiliating to the FAI 
was an ongoing problem. The six-day strike in 1933, which in some areas of Galicia 
developed into a near-insurrection and ended with several hundred people imprisoned, hit 
the FAI hard.

There were also problems of
countering moderate tendencies
within the CNT itself. By July
1935 the FAI could count on
groups in a dozen towns. The
army revolt that broke out in
1936 resulted in fierce opposition
in libertarian strongholds like La
Coruna, El Ferrol, Verin and Tuy
for several days, but by late July
Galicia was very much under the
Francoist boot. Mass executions
now began although the FAI in El Ferrol
managed to go underground with
only a handful of their militants
murdered.These were two escapes
to France in spring and summer 1939
by way of the sea. In Vigo, after
fierce resistance, hundreds were shot,
including dozens of anarchists.

Several pages give potted biographies
of many of the anarchist workers
involved in the movement.

The final section deals with the
resistance of anarchist women
in developing a system of safe
houses with the repression. Six
thousand women belonged to
the CNT in Galicia, and between
2,000 to 2,500 of these in La
Coruna, they accounted for
15%-20% of the Galician CNT?s
membership. Some of these
belonged to the FAI, some to the
Libertarian Youth (FIJL), some to
the FAI?s Vanguardia Feminina,
and some to the libertarian
women?s group Mulleres
Libres. With the Francoist
terror, a minority continued the
resistance. Among those who
were murdered because of their
continued resistance were Maria
Otero Gonsalez, who acted as a
resistance runner; Alicia Dorado,
who harboured other anarchists;
Pilar Fernandez Seijas, another
harbourer of other anarchists;
and Maria Josefa Becerra Laino.
Many other women suffered
long prison sentences or years
in exile. As Carmen Blanco
ends her article: ?May these free
women, their safe-houses, and
the free world within remain in
our hearts?.