—But I didn’t stop to listen to any more. The moment we had been waiting for had come at last …
* * *
Sunday, 19 July
BURGOS
News of the Valladolid success had not reached the requetés who had been waiting all night in their headquarters. Under the traditional pictures of the Carlist kings, beneath the gaze of an eighty-year-old veteran of the last Carlist war, the requetés had been saying their rosary when fifteen-year-old José María CODON arrived, his raincoat bulging with the arms he had just dug up from his father’s bakery. Carefully packed and greased, they had lain there under the very feet of the socialist workers. The veteran Carlist harangued them: ‘My sons, you are about to set out, as I and 200 other Burgaleses set out in 1872 for the Cartuja (Charterhouse) and the war in the north –’
But were they going to set out? The night wore on without news. Was this another false alarm as in May? Only yesterday, the government had arrested General González de Lara and other officers who were to lead the rising in Burgos, he recalled. Suddenly he heard shouts of ‘Aña’ echoing in the stillness of the night.
—‘Aña –’ ‘What are they shouting? Is it Viva Azaña or Viva España?’ We didn’t wait to find out, we rushed into the streets. In the distance we heard the trumpets of the military detachment which had come out to proclaim a State of War. We unfurled the red and gold flag of Spain which we had longed in all those republican years to see flying again. What a mistake the republic made in changing the flag! One of my companion’s sisters threw herself on her knees in front of the flag, tearing her stockings in order to kiss it …
Carrying the flag, they made for the cathedral where the bells began to toll a call to a thanksgiving service. Women in mantillas, wearing scapularies on their chests, men in blue falange shirts, army officers, requetés in their red berets, gathered to sing a salve regina.
—There were hundreds of people there; and yet it surprised me that the masses didn’t join us immediately. This was a city which had always elected monarchist, Carlist, agrarian deputies to parliament under the republic. And this was a moment when, had there been any fighting to do, their support or lack of it would have been absolutely decisive … 4
But their support was unnecessary. Burgos was taken almost without a shot. The small working class was disorganized and unprepared. The assault guards sided immediately with the military who took over, led by Brigadier General Dávila, a retired officer. The divisional commander, General Batet – to whom only two days earlier General Mola had given his word that he would not rise – was under arrest. So too were the commander of the civil guard and the civil governor.
BILBAO
They had spent all night listening to the radios installed in the party’s newspaper offices. Juan AJURIAGUERRA, a young engineer from the Babcock and Wilcox plant and president of the Basque nationalist party in Vizcaya, had returned earlier from a party executive meeting in San Sebastián. It had reached no decision; there had been little definite news to base a decision on. All they knew was that the army had risen in Morocco.
—We had fought the recent elections alone, joining neither right- nor left-wing blocs. The right had been attacking us violently, the left was dragging its feet over getting our autonomy statute through parliament; we were quite alone …
He had driven back to Bilbao. The Basque nationalist party, PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco), was the largest party in the two northern Basque provinces. The military had risen nowhere in the Basque country yet, though in Alava – as in Navarre – it was a matter of hours. Some Basque nationalists were prepared to argue that the party should be neutral in the threatening conflict. Others, like the two parliamentary deputies Manuel Irujo and José María Lasarte, who had issued a declaration of loyalty to the republic, believed they must support the legal government.
Socialists, communists, anarcho-syndicalists and left republicans were patrolling the streets of Bilbao; miners poured into the city. No one was certain what the infantry regiment in the Garellano barracks would do.
As he kept watch, Ricardo VALGAÑON, a communist foundry worker, was aware that the Popular Front parties were meeting in the civil government building. They didn’t include the Basque nationalist party. ‘We didn’t count on the latter for anything, didn’t even think about them, to tell the truth.’
In the newspaper office, AJURIAGUERRA continued to listen to the radio until the very last minute.
—Hoping that some news might come in which meant we didn’t have to reach a decision: one side or the other might already have won. As the night wore on, one thing became clear: the military rising was the work of the right-wing oligarchy whose slogan was unity – an aggressive Spanish unity which was aimed at us. The right was ferociously hostile to any autonomy statute for the Basque country. The legal government, on the other hand, had promised it to us and we knew we would receive it in the end. At 6 a.m., after a sleepless night, we reached a unanimous decision. We issued a statement declaring our support of the republican government. We reached the decision without much joy but convinced that we had chosen the side which most favoured the interests of the Basque people; convinced also that, had we come to the opposite decision, our base would have opposed us … 5
MADRID
At dawn Fulgencio DIEZ PASTOR, parliamentary deputy and secretary of Unión Republicana, drove to his party leader’s house. He had to go out of his way to avoid a massive socialist demonstration sweeping down the Calle Fuencarral to protest against the new government being formed by his leader, Martínez Barrio. He understood the masses’ feeling; such a government – possible four months earlier when it might have prevented all this – could now only mean surrender. An urgently summoned meeting of the Popular Front committee, which he had attended the previous afternoon, had unanimously called for the people to be armed. A few hours later, the prime minister-designate was telephoning General Mola in Pamplona in a vain attempt to secure his support. Mola refused it.6
When he reached the house, Martínez Barrio was in bed.
—I made him get up. ‘You have announced on the radio that you are taking over as prime minister at 6 a.m. Where do you propose to do so? At the prime minister’s office? It is surrounded by thousands of people. So is the navy ministry. The war ministry – you won’t get near it. Never has there been a more unpopular government –’
He looked at us. He had accepted the premiership without consulting the party executive. He picked up the phone. ‘Manolo, tell those gentlemen on my behalf that I am resigning. Yes, I can’t lead a government which the Popular Front is demonstrating against in the streets –’
That was all. Without further explanation he quit. I hadn’t washed or shaved or slept for three days. I went home …
The government which came in as the street lights went on vanished as the lights went out. With the dawn came yet another all-republican government, under José Giral.
—That was better news for all of us in the Puerta del Sol, recalled Julián VAZQUEZ, the communist tailor. We believed he would be tougher than the rest. And up to a point we were right, because he gave the order to arm the people …
*
His party had failed its historic mission; no party had been able to lead the masses forward, he thought. It was too late now, but it was going to cost them dear.
Sócrates GOMEZ, son of a leading socialist trade unionist, had fled Segovia where he was doing his military service. Seeing the preparations being made in the Artillery Academy he had taken off his private’s uniform and asked a taxi-driver friend to take him to Madrid. As a prominent member himself of the unified socialist youth (JSU), he had no illusions about his fate if he remained. He was on the left wing of the socialist party, the largest working-class party in Spain.
Five months before, he thought, when the Popular Front won at the polls, the people had waited calmly, full of hope that this time, at the second attempt, their immediate demands were going to be met. After two ye
ars of reactionary government they had believed a new democratic period was opening before them. Instead, an all-republican government failed to produce a coherent social programme, an operative agrarian reform, the dismantling of the forces hostile to the regime, a solution to the country’s many social problems. Disappointment had set in. The right staged constant provocations and street violence to sabotage attempts to create a democratic regime. In those months, the socialist party had made a big mistake; it should have joined the government, he saw that now, though then he had argued against.
—In government, the party could have crushed the plot, imprisoned the right-wing elements – the blindest and most passionately obtuse of any in the world – which were now rising. Without for a moment renouncing its aim of conquering power, the socialist party – the most marxist socialist party in Europe – could have shared governmental power in order to ensure, inasfar as such was possible in a capitalist regime, that the institutional and economic forces of coercion remained firmly in the government’s hands …
There had been a chance; the left wing had blocked it. It was a serious error. The socialist party’s failure to join the government and ensure the satisfaction of the people’s demands increased fears that these demands would not be met. A pre-revolutionary ferment had begun. It was driven by fear; and fear, he reflected, did not make a clear-headed revolutionary counsellor. ‘Rather it was the state of mind of a man in despair.’ Divided, the socialist party had not been able to channel or lead this ferment. It had failed on both scores.
*
He had just had a lucky escape. Arrested by militiamen as he was trying to get into the Montaña barracks to join the military, he had been taken to the headquarters of a republican party for an identity check. Happily, the militiamen hadn’t recognized him, David JATO, a founder of the falangist students’ union, SEU (Sindicato Español Universitario). He waited. Ever since the Popular Front victory – no, from the time of the October 1934 revolution7 – it had been clear to him that only violence would solve the country’s problems. The republicans had come to power too soon, historically speaking, before they had a base in the country. Their traditional anti-clericalism, their refusal to allow the CEDA to govern when they won the elections three years before, exacerbated the fundamental problems. Liberalism everywhere was on the retreat. The choice lay between communism and fascism, the dominant ideologies which were deciding the fate of Europe.
—Both, especially in Spain, believed in violence. Both, given the international situation, enjoyed great influence, particularly among the youth. Increasingly disillusioned with the republic, the latter had gone over to extreme positions on either side …
Not that he feared that the communists were in a position to make their revolution; they were still too weak. But in conjunction with the left-wing socialists, who formed the bulk of the socialist party, under Largo Caballero, they might. It was this he feared. Since the Popular Front victory, the socialists had been increasing their militia strength. There were daily assassination attempts.
—Fourteen SEU members had been killed by the time the elections were held. And now Calvo Sotelo’s murder. That was the final proof that only a violent solution could save Spain …
He heard a noise, some shouts. A lightning demonstration swept into the party headquarters protesting at the formation of the short-lived Martínez Barrio government. In the confusion, as people left, he walked out. It couldn’t have been easier. He made for a cousin’s house. A socialist, he would certainly give him shelter.
MADRID-BARCELONA TRAIN
The Popular Olympiad – a counter to the Nazi Olympics in Berlin – was due to open in Barcelona today, Sunday. A considerable number of Madrid youth had put their names down to attend. Despite the imminence of the uprising, the communist party had given its members permission to go because it was to be a large anti-fascist demonstration. Railwaymen – Narciso JULIAN, a communist party member among them – were well represented because they got free tickets on the trains.
The threat of fascism, JULIAN knew, occupied the foreground of all attention now. Everything, even the need to push the bourgeois democratic revolution Spain had never made to its full completion under the Popular Front, had to be subordinated to the vital task of forging a solid anti-fascist alliance.
The country, since the 1936 elections, had been going through a period of great political and social effervescence; you could call it pre-revolutionary. The republic’s failure to implement a thorough-going agrarian reform to solve the eternal land problem had led peasants to take over the land. Some had been killed by the landowners’ traditional defence, the guardia civil. There were strikes and demands by the working class for better conditions; unions and political parties were increasing in strength as the struggle became more open.
—The communist party called for the creation of armed militia, and warned of the threat of a military uprising. Everyone could see that the republican government was displaying great weakness in the face of the threat. The Falange’s gunmen were out in the streets, engaged in open warfare, assassinating well-known republican police officers. For the past fortnight, none of us communist militants had slept at home, knowing that the military were going to rise …
But none of this, he thought, could justify the military rising. It was not a revolutionary period that was leading to socialism. Not at all. That was the pretext the fascists used to justify their rising. It wasn’t true – especially among the peasant masses; they weren’t agitating for socialism. They wanted the republic to tackle the country’s fundamental problems, and the land was one – if not the – major problem.
As the train passed through Valencia and began the long haul to Barcelona, he was unaware how lucky he had been to choose this, rather than the alternative route. Those who travelled via Saragossa would never reach their destination.
* * *
AGAINST FASCISM, YES. BUT ALSO AGAINST ANY TYPE OF DICTATORSHIP BECAUSE, WHOEVER EXERCISES IT, DICTATORSHIP IS ALSO FASCISM.
Solidaridad Obrera, CNT (Barcelona, 18 July 1936)
* * *
DECREE
By Agreement of the Council of Ministers and on the proposal of the War Minister, I decree as follows:
All troops whose commanders have risen against republican legality are herewith demobilized.
Madrid, the eighteenth of July, 1936. Manuel Azaña. The prime minister and minister of war, Santiago Casares Quiroga.
Gaceta de Madrid (19 July 1936)
* * *
* * *
Don Francisco Franco Bahamonde, Divisional General Chief of the Military Forces of Morocco and High Commissioner.
I proclaim:
Once more the Army, united with the other forces of the nation, has found itself obliged to respond to the wishes of the great majority of Spaniards who, with infinite bitterness, have seen disappear that which unites us in a common ideal:
SPAIN.
At stake is the need to restore the empire of ORDER within the REPUBLIC, not only in its external appearances but in its very essence; to achieve this, it will be necessary to labour with justice, taking no account of classes or social categories, to end the division of the country into two groups: those who dispose of power and those whose rights are trampled under foot … The re-establishment of the principle of AUTHORITY, forgotten in these past years, implacably demands that punishments be exemplary and are seen to be so by the seriousness and rapidity with which they are carried out …
To execute these tasks rapidly
I order and command:
Article l. Martial law is declared in the whole territory and all armed forces in consequence are militarized …
Tetuán (Spanish Morocco, 18 July 1936)
* * *
BARCELONA
The factory clock showed a few minutes after 5 a.m. A CNT militant stepped from a car to give his companions the news. Almost simultaneously, sirens from the factories in Poble Nou began to wail in the still, clear
air of the Sunday dawn the long awaited warning that the military rising had begun.
In his apartment near the Diagonal, Professor Josep TRUETA was awoken by the sirens, soon followed by shooting. It was as he feared: the military rising, of which he had heard the first news only the evening before when he and his wife went to the cinema, had spread.
He went to the window. Only a part of the Diagonal that cut a long swath through the city was visible. Some soldiers were coming from the direction of the Pedralbes barracks. He heard more shooting.
There was no excuse for this, the military had no cause to rise here. A confirmed liberal, he felt indignant. The violence which had swept some parts of Spain since the elections five months ago – and which a great number of people had a vested interest in fomenting, he thought – had been completely absent in Barcelona. Despite the growth of the anarcho-syndicalist movement, with its migrant base, which was a source of anxiety for people like himself, Barcelona had been peaceful. It was due to Catalonia’s autonomy statute, he believed. He thought of a Spanish marchioness who had begged him recently to pretend that her son’s fractured arm was serious, so that her husband would have an excuse for leaving Madrid. Newly appointed head surgeon of Santa Creu i Sant Pau, the city’s largest hospital, he had hesitated. ‘But in Madrid you can be gunned down in the streets by a car-load of falangists or communists,’ she insisted. When her husband came to thank him, he used an expression TRUETA hadn’t heard before: ‘No wonder Barcelona is being called “an oasis of peace”; it is thanks to this police force of yours.’
*
All night, as every night in recent weeks, CNT and FAI militants had been on the alert. The CNT defence committee, centred round men like Durruti, Francisco Ascaso, García Oliver, Ricardo Sanz of the Nosotros group, had long been preparing for this moment.8
Blood of Spain_An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War Page 6