La Barricada by Toni Vidal and Juan Vera ("Esbelt"), 1937.
Produced by the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), the Spanish anarchist trade union - National Confederation of Labour (which was affiliated to the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) - the Iberian Anarchist Federation), celebrating the victory over the attempted coup in July 1936 and the start of the revolution.
Antonio Vidal Torruella was born in 1909. He was a book illustrator – including the front cover portrait on the 1936 Spanish edition of Rudolf Rocker’s ‘Nationalism’, and the front cover of the published music and lyrics of the CNT’s anthem ‘A Las Barricadas’. He was also a writer and poet. He died in 1946 after being imprisoned in the Model and Montjuic prisons in Barcelona.
The CNT was founded in November 1910, with a membership of 26,000 at a conference of workers societies in Barcelona and had its first national congress the following year. A general strike was immediately called in Barcelona and the CNT was declared illegal. By 1919 there were 700,000 members. As the CNT grew, employers became more worried and hired armed thugs (pistoleros) to intimidate or assassinate union members. The CNT took part in revolutionary strikes and uprisings throughout the period leading up to the 1936 Revolution and Civil War, including uprisings in Catalonia, Asturias and Andalusia. By 1937 the CNT had 1.5 million members.
From the start of the attempted coup in 1936, the CNT had a decisive role in events, but by May 1937 the Republican Government, under the influence of the PCE, was reversing its achievements, suppressing the collectives, forcing militias to join the regular army or be disbanded and arresting militants.
19 July marked the start of the attempted military uprising in Barcelona. The uprising was met by anarchist militias, who were already prepared with neighbourhood defence committees and Assault Guards who were able to organise barricades and weapons. As news of the attempted coup broke on 17-18 July, CNT members started to raid weapons stores in the docks seizing rifles and dynamite, which was used to make homemade grenades. In some cases, guns were handed out to them by Assault Guards, from their own stores. Overnight on 18-19 July, workers gathered on Las Ramblas and kept watch on the city’s barracks. At about 4am soldiers left their barracks and factory sirens started sounding to alert the workers that the uprising was starting. Defence committees were mobilised and ready.
The army, expecting an easy victory, marched to the city centre and to the port. The first clashes started at 8am with workers firing and throwing grenades from their barricades and people dropping debris from their balconies onto the soldiers. At the port, dock workers repulsed the army, who hadn’t expected resistance.
There was heavy fighting across Las Ramblas. A cavalry advance was stopped by the workers behind barricades – and buildings on both sides were occupied by combatants. Some of the soldiers were forced to retreat and seek shelter within their barracks. Heavy fighting carried on over the course of the day in various parts of the city, as workers’ militias and Assault Guards gradually repulsed and then overwhelmed army regiments. As militias captured barracks, soldiers’ councils were set up and arms were distributed to the militias.
At around 2pm there was heavy fighting in the Plaça de Catalunya as the rebels held out in the Hotel Colom and the telephone exchange. After exchanges of fire, the soldiers in the hotel surrendered and POUM members forced their way in and occupied it. Meanwhile CNT militants fought inside the telephone exchange. When the telephone exchange was captured, the CNT set up a workers’ committee to run it.
The uprising came to an end the following day with the surrender of the Drassanes barracks after a sustained attack by CNT fighters that cost many lives. Throughout the uprising in Barcelona, between 450 and 600 people died, including 200 workers.
This is a digitally cleaned up print. The size is A3 (approx. 11.7" x 16.5"). Printed on good quality 170gm poster paper.
Printed by the Radical Poster Collective, UK
The Radical Poster Collective is dedicated to making good quality classic radical posters available at an affordable price. Posters are either digitally cleaned up to remove tears, stains, etc., or completely recreated to be as close as possible to the original.