Durruti In The Spanish Revolution

A political biography, history of of a revolutionary era, and nonstop adventure story across three continents.

A passionate history of fighting against all odds—the legendary war against fascism and capitalism in Spain.

A former policeman, now a Major in the Spanish Republican Army, is sent to Madrid to investigate the circumstances in which the legendary anarchist was killed. In his search for the truth he interviews the key witnesses and uncovers a number of contradictory accounts. Nobody tells the same story in quite the same way, but as an experienced police officer, he knows it is not inconceivable that they are all telling the truth. But it is also possible that some of them are lying, that some are trying to hide what they know, and more sinisterly, that some may be seeking to sabotage his investigation for darker political ends. Making imaginative and ingenious use of the detective novel as a literary device, de Paz explores various hypotheses and scenarios that could at least provide us, 70 years on, with believable explanations about the chain of events leading to the death of a truly remarkable man. Also includes numerous photographs of the man, and his funeral, and a lengthy afterword by Stuart Christie, putting his life, times, and untimely death, into the context of Spanish Anarchism, the social revolution, and civil war. Quite superb, all around!

An account of the life and death of Buenaventura Durruti, a Spanish Civil War leader, that turns his life into a larger story of revolution, commitment, and failed struggles for freedom.

"Revolutions without theory fail to make progress. We of the 'Friends Of Durruti' have outlined our thinking, which may be amended as appropriate in great social upheavals but which hinges upon two essential points which cannot be avoided. A program, and rifles."--El Amigo del Pueblo, No. 5, July 20, 1937. Spain 1936-1939: This is the story of a group of anarchists engaged in the most thoroughgoing social and economic revolution of all time. Essentially street fighters with a long pedigree of militant action, they used their own experiences to arrive at the finest contemporary analysis of the Spanish Revolution. In doing so, they laid down essential markers for all future revolutionaries. This study--drawing on interviews with participants and synthesizing archival information--is THE definitive text on these unsung activists. This volume is translated, edited, and introduced by Paul Sharkey, acknowledged internationally as the foremost expert on the Friends Of Durruti Group.

Northern Spain is the only part of Western Europe where anarchism played a significant role in political life of the twentieth century. Enjoying wide-ranging support among both the urban and rural working class, its importance peaked during its "brief summer"--the civil war between the Republic and General Franco's Falangists, during which anarchists even participated in the government of Catalonia. Anarchy's Brief Summer brings anarchism to life by focusing on the charismatic leader Buenaventura Durruti (1896-1936), who became a key figure in the Spanish Civil War after a militant and adventurous youth. The basis of the book is a compilation of texts: personal testimony, interviews with survivors, contemporary documents, memoirs, and academic assessments. They are all linked by Enzenberger's own assessment in a series of glosses--a literary form that is somewhere between retelling and reconstruction--with the contradiction between fiction and fact reflecting the political contradictions of the Spanish Revolution. On the trail of forgotten, half-suppressed struggles, Anarchy's Brief Summer offers a unique portrait of a revolutionary movement that is largely unknown outside Spain.