#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #UKRAINE #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) cnt-ait: Can we compare the involvement of some Ukrainian anarchists in the Ukrainian Army with that of some Spanish anarchists in the French Resistance? (ca, de, it, fr, pt, tr)[machine translation]

   (A reply to «Did the anarchists who liberated Paris support the oligarchs?»)

---- Regarding the participation of spanish anarchists in the French resistance
against Nazis ... ---- As a justification to the involvement of some «anarchists»
in the Ukrainian Army, we read some time on anarchist social networksthe argument
that "afterall the Spanish anarchists joined the Allied army and they have
liberated Paris". Which as been summarized by someone by the question: «Did the
anarchists who liberated Paris support the oligarchs?» ---- First of all, it was
not the Spanish anarchists who liberated Paris but the US and Allied army, of
which certain Spanish anarchists were part of the avant-garde brigade which
entered Paris first. It is not the anarchists alone who have liberated Paris. And
without the tanks and the military equipment of the American army they could not
have done anything. It's just a historical reminder.

Then it should be known that the participation of certain Spanish anarchists in
the Free French Army (which was a part of the US and Allied army) was not a
decision of the anarchist organization but it has been individual decisions.
These are individuals who decided to join the Free France forces. And they didn't
do it in the name of anarchism, nor as anarchists. They did it for their survival
(which is quite respectable and they had a lot of courage). But they never
claimed to have fought for anarchism. Besides, they never took pictures of them
wearing uniforms with red and black flags or anything else... They had no
political program, they didn't bring about a change in society in their wake. It
was not their goal. Their combat unit was not an anarchist unit, but a
hierarchical unit, with its order, its respect for military authority, even if
their French officer (the Captain Dronne) left them a certain freedom of
organization because he had understood that if he wanted to benefit from the best
of their military value, he had to leave them a form of autonomy.

With regard to the participation of the Spanish anarchists in the French internal
resistance, there too we have to get out of the stereotypes. First of all it was
the subject of internal debates within the anarchists taking refuge in France.
Some anarchists refused to join the resistance in France believing that this
fight was not theirs, because the French Republic had not supported them
militarily against Franco. And among the Spanish anarchists who joined the French
resistance, they organized autonomous resistance groups distinct from the French
resistance groups. The Spanish anarchist resistance groups, in particular that of
the building site of the dam of L'Aigle, had their own organizations, which did
not receive order of the French Resistance (even if they coordinated with the
non-Communist resistance. Relations with the Communists were very tense and there
were even armed clashes, the Communists sometimes attacking the anarchist
maquis). Spanisgh anarchists resistance groups decided their own mode of action
and their military objectives, adn made clear to the French resistance that they
will do die for France and dont want to be used as fodder canon to liberate
France. They were fighting against nazis, not to free France ... If you read
French, we invite you to read this article:
http://cnt-ait.info/2020/07/19/barrage-de-laigle/.

Finally, the French anarchists - and in particular the anarchosyndicalists - also
participated in the Resistance: they were joined by a famous russian anarchist
Voline (who took part to the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine of Makhno in
the 1918-1921). Voline was involved in a resistance group organized around former
members of the French section of the AIT (forbidden by the democratic French
Republic government in 1939), together with Italian, Bulgarian, Senegalese
members ...  This group edited and printed many documents, brochures, posters
which make it possible to know their political position. Thet stand very clearly
both against the Nazis and against the Allies. They have published in particular
a very clear book «the culprits». Voline participated in the writing of this
book. In this book are indeed denounced the oligarchs guilty of the war:

«They are legion, the big culprits in our modern societies! We have, first of
all, the Profiteers: pirates of industry or finance, who, without pity, without
conscience, without humanity, exploit to death or have their fellow men massacred
among themselves to increase their profits. Then come their lackeys: the
Politicians. Impossible to list all the perjurers, chameleons, renegades,
upstarts, etc. There's too much.»

There are more texts about this group in English here
http://cnt-ait.info/2019/08/08/1939-1945-anarchist-activity/

  The English version of the texts revised by Voline are here:
http://cnt-ait.info/2020/07/12/to-all-intellectual-and-manual-workers-1943/

and here: http://cnt-ait.info/2020/07/12/to-all-intellectual-and-manual-workers-1943/

and in French here: http://cnt-ait.info/2019/08/16/andre-arru/,
http://cnt-ait.info/2019/08/14/mort-aux-vaches-annonce- 1943/,

We hope that these few elements will allow you to better understand the action of
the anarchists in France during the Second World War.

Peace in the cottages, war in the palaces,

death to tyrants,

And good luck to you.

http://cnt-ait.info/2022/11/10/ukrainian-spanish-anarchists/
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