Scala case

Last updated

On 15 January 1978, a fire in Barcelona's Scala nightclub killed four people. The ensuing trial was known as the Scala case.

Contents

The incident

In the morning of Sunday 15 January 1978, a demonstration organized by the anarcho-syndicalist trade union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) took place in Barcelona. [1] The protest was held to demonstrate against the Moncloa Pacts, which CNT considered to be harmful to the working class. Around 15,000 people participated in the protest. [2] At around 13:15, after the protest had ended and the protestors were dispersing, a group of young adults instigated by Joaquín Gambín threw molotov coctails at the stone facade of the Scala nightclub. According to the police, this was the cause of the fire that destroyed the building and killed four workers – Ramón Egea, Juan López, Diego Montoro and Bernabé Bravo –, three of which were paradoxically affiliated with CNT, that happened to be in the club at that time. [3]

Different speculations were made by the press about the causes and the perpetrators of the crime. Some attributed the crime to common murderers, others speculated that its cause was related with affairs regarding the business of the club and others implicated relationships of the perpetrators with the campaign in favor of the freedom of expression of Albert Boadella (who was at the time brought to a court-martial for allegedly offending the army with one of his works). [4] Finally on Tuesday 17 January, the police informed the press about the arrest of the offenders, who were members of the anarchist trade union CNT. The newspaper of the French CNT, stated that the ignition was the result of the actions of agents provocateurs that had infiltrated the protest before the incident. [2]

It is believed that flammable or incendiary materials were placed inside the club before the manifestation, since it is very improbable that simple molotov cocktails thrown at the stone facade of the building could result in the burning of the whole building except, paradoxically, the facade. Additionally, the inform of the firefighters indicated that the fire started in another place of the club and probably originated from a flammable material of military origin. [1]

The trial

The trial of Scala case took place in December 1980. Some days before the start of the trial a key witness had died. [1] The lawyers of the defense requested that the first deputy prime minister Rodolfo Martín Villa appeared to testify, but he did not. The position of the defense was that the police orchestrated the incident with the use of agents provocateurs to reduce CNT's popularity among the workers and to stop its growth in Catalonia. José Cuevas, Xavier Cañadas and Arturo Palma were sentenced to 17 years in prison as the perpetrators of involuntary homicide and for fabricating explosives. Luis Muñoz was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for collaboration in the crime and Rosa López was sentenced to 5 months in prison for concealment. [3]

After some years, a confidential paper of the police that assigned to Joaquín Gambín the task of infiltrating the protestors, was discovered. He was the one who infiltrated CNT to cause the incident. The pressure from the press on the police combined with Gambín's absence from the trial caused suspicions about the role of the police in the incident and the true perpetrators of the crime. Finally, in the end of 1981 Gambín was arrested in Valencia after a shoot-out with the police. The Scala case would reopen. [3]

The second trial for the Scala case, in December 1983, had only one accused: Joaquín Gambín. He was condemned to 7 years in prison for assisting at a demonstration with arms and for constructing explosives. Since then, CNT has always presented this as an insidious maneuver by the government to stop the growth of the anarchist union by the negative publicity that the union had received during the previous years, before the restoration of justice. [3]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered the end of the golden age of classical anarchism.

The Argentine Libertarian Federation is a libertarian communist federation which operates in Argentina, out of the City of Buenos Aires, San Pedro, La Pampa Province, and Rosario. Founded in October 1935 with the name of the Anarcho-Communist Federation of Argentina the FLA adopted its current name in 1955. It is governed by the Declaration of Principles and the Organic Charter approved by its congress. Its structure and operation are federative and are coordinated by Local Councils and the National Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sébastien Faure</span> French anarchist (1858–1942)

Sébastien Faure was a French anarchist, convicted sex offender, freethought and secularist activist and a principal proponent of synthesis anarchism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ángel Pestaña</span> Spanish anarcho-syndicalist (1886–1937)

Ángel Pestaña Nuñez (1886–1937) was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist general secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), founder of the Syndicalist Party and member of the Cortes Generales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abel Paz</span> Spanish anarchist historian (1921–2009)

Abel Paz (1921–2009) was a Spanish anarchist and historian who fought in the Spanish Civil War. He is considered one of the noted Spanish anarchist historians, writing multiple volumes on anarchist history, including a biography of Buenaventura Durruti, an influential anarchist during the war. He kept the anarchist tradition throughout his life, including a decade in Francoist Spain's jails and multiple decades in exile in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederación Nacional del Trabajo</span> Anarcho-syndicalist trade union confederation in Spain

The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). When working with the latter group it was also known as CNT-AIT. Historically, the CNT has also been affiliated with the Federación Anarquista Ibérica ; thus, it has also been referred to as the CNT-FAI. Throughout its history, it has played a major role in the Spanish labor movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism in Argentina</span> Aspect of Argentine politics

The Argentine anarchist movement was the strongest such movement in South America. It was strongest between 1890 and the start of a series of military governments in 1930. During this period, it was dominated by anarchist communists and anarcho-syndicalists. The movement's theories were a hybrid of European anarchist thought and local elements, just as it consisted demographically of both European immigrant workers and native Argentines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Peiró</span> Catalan anarchist (1887–1942)

Joan Peiró i Belis was a Catalan anarchist activist, writer, editor of the anarchist newspaper Solidaridad Obrera, two-time Secretary General of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and Minister of Industry of the Spanish government during the Spanish Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joaquín Ascaso</span> Aragonese anarcho-syndicalist (1906–1977)

Joaquín Ascaso Budría was an Aragonese anarcho-syndicalist and President of the Regional Defence Council of Aragon between 1936 and 1937.

Miguel Giménez Igualada was a Spanish individualist anarchist writer also known as Miguel Ramos Giménez and Juan de Iniesta.

Expropriative anarchism is the name given to a practice carried out by certain anarchist affinity groups in Argentina and Spain which involved theft, robbery, scams and counterfeiting currency. The robberies done were called "expropriations on the bourgeoisie". It had its major peak between 1920 and 1935 and some of its most famous practitioners were Buenaventura Durruti, Francisco Ascaso, Severino Di Giovanni, Miguel Arcángel Roscigna, and Lucio Urtubia. It was different from French illegalism because it was not thought of as a way of life but as a way of reaching political ends such as financing revolutionary activities, anarchist propaganda and the release of anarchist prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresa Claramunt</span>

Teresa Claramunt i Creus (1862–1931) was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist. Claramunt lived in a time marked by a labour movement in formation and by rising anarchist sentiments. A pioneer of anarcha-feminism, she was one of the first to propose the formation of an autonomous organization of anarchist women, a legacy that a few years after her death would be picked up by the Mujeres Libres organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism in Chile</span>

The anarchist movement in Chile emerged from European immigrants, followers of Mikhail Bakunin affiliated with the International Workingmen's Association, who contacted Manuel Chinchilla, a Spaniard living in Iquique. Their influence could be perceived at first within the labour unions of typographers, painters, builders and sailors. During the first decades of the 20th century, anarchism had a significant influence on the labour movement and intellectual circles of Chile. Some of the most prominent Chilean anarchists were: the poet Carlos Pezoa Véliz, the professor Dr Juan Gandulfo, the syndicalist workers Luis Olea, Magno Espinoza, Alejandro Escobar y Carballo, Ángela Muñoz Arancibia, Juan Chamorro, Armando Triviño and Ernesto Miranda, the teacher Flora Sanhueza, and the writers José Domingo Gómez Rojas, Fernando Santiván, José Santos González Vera and Manuel Rojas. At the moment, anarchist groups are experiencing a comeback in Chile through various student collectives, affinity groups, community and cultural centres, and squatting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Montseny</span> Spanish anarchist and journalist (1864–1942)

Joan Montseny i Carret (1864–1942), who also wrote under the pseudonym Federico Urales, was a Catalan anarchist activist and journalist from Spain.

Saturnino Carod Lerín was an Aragonese anarchist politician and guerrilla. During the Spanish Civil War he commanded a militia column and later, during World War II he played an active role in the French Resistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josep Termes</span> Spanish historian and literary scholar

Josep Termes i Ardèvol was a Catalan historian.

Bernabé Argüelles de Paz (1912–1943) was an Asturian anarchist.

The Mariano Sánchez Añón Insurrectional Cell was an urban guerrilla group in the Greater Mexico City area.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "El caso Scala y la CNT: del montaje policial al mito anarquista". Nortes | Centradas en la periferia (in Spanish). January 14, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "[UN IMPOSTEUR NOMME MARCOS – Actualité de l'Anarcho-syndicalisme]". March 6, 2014. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "1978: el Caso Scala". February 4, 2014. Archived from the original on February 4, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
  4. Polémica (January 30, 2013). "El Caso Scala. Un proceso contra el anarcosindicalismo". polémica (in Spanish). Retrieved May 29, 2022.