Iron Column

Last updated
Iron Column
Columna de Ferro
International brigades hungary flag.svg
Flag used by the Rakosi Battalion, a group of Hungarian volunteers originally integrated into the Iron Column.
ActiveAugust 1936 – March 1937
DisbandedApril 1, 1937
CountryFlag of Spain 1931 1939.svg  Spanish Republic
AllegianceCNT FAI flag.svg CNT-FAI
BranchCNT FAI flag.svg Confederal militias
Type Militia
Size20,000
Garrison/HQ Valencia
Engagements Spanish Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 José Pellicer Gandía
Propaganda Poster that reads: "Iron Column; For a Free Humanity! For Anarchy! Iron column poster.png
Propaganda Poster that reads: "Iron Column; For a Free Humanity! For Anarchy!

The Iron Column (Catalan : Columna de Ferro, Spanish : Columna de Hierro) was a Valencian anarchist militia column formed during the Spanish Civil War to fight against the military forces of the Nationalist Faction that had rebelled against the Second Spanish Republic.

Contents

History

The Iron Column was formed in Valencia at the start of the Spanish Revolution by local anarchists including Rafael Martí (nicknamed 'Pancho Villa' after the Mexican revolutionary), José and Pedro Pellicer, Elias Manzanera and José Segarra. The Iron Column fought on the Teruel front. [1]

Aragon front

On August 8, 8 centuries (800 militiamen) left Valencia for Teruel. They did it in two batches and in a disorganized way. First, the Alcoy group led by Rafael Martí, [2] which left Valencia with some 150 militiamen, passed through Sagunto, where they were joined by another hundred volunteers. Upon reaching the Teruel town of Sarrión, when they were about 400 strong, they halted a nationalist attack. [3] At the same time, another militia under the command of José Pellicer Gandía with 400 other volunteers left Valencia. [4] In these early days the column almost totally lacked organization, until after several casualties caused by disorganization in combat they decide to form the centuries. Towards the end of August, the column stabilized at the front and had about 1,600 militiamen who were fighting together with 600 regular soldiers, totaling 2,200. The Iron column was around 12,000 strong in October (and up to 20,000 by the winter), although only 3,000 could be armed, [5] mainly with small arms taken in the assault on the Albereda barracks. [6] The rest of the volunteers were either at the Las Salesas Barracks or at home waiting to be summoned.

The Iron Column stood for defense (and extension) of the popular revolution rather than defense of the Republic. Among its earliest acts were the freeing of convicts from the San Miguel de los Reyes prison and the burning of judicial archives. Many of these released convicts joined the Iron Column upon being released from jail. However, the actions of some of these hardened convicts, many of whom had joined only for personal gain, soon gave the Iron column a notorious reputation. [7] Because the fact that the Iron Column vocally opposed the CNT-FAI (the leading Anarchist organization on the Republican side) entrance into the national government, the CNT refused to arm and supply the column, and thus it was forced to rely on confiscations and the aid of regional committees. [8] The Iron Column also found itself embroiled in factional fighting with Communist units and the assault guards. In the town of Benaguasil they had an armed confrontation against the communists who controlled the town. After a confrontation with several deaths on both sides, the government sent planes to attack the anarchist column. [9]

Controversy

The column was attacked for wanting to impose libertarian communism wherever its militias were. The militias that were inactive at the front dedicated themselves to extending the agricultural collectives in Teruel. Collectivism was also pushed by other columns such as the Torres-Benedito Column, which also defended the collectives. But more than any other, not even the Durruti Column, the Iron Column acted both as a war militia and as a revolutionary organization: it took minutes of its assemblies, published a newspaper ("Line of Fire") and distributed manifestos, because it needed to explain its actions in the rear and justify its movements and decisions before the workers and peasants. It came to be considered a community in itself. [10]

In September and October, due to the lack of arms and ammunition, hundreds of columns were sent to the rear in search of them. When they got to the rear, they were harassed by law enforcement who tried to arrest and search them. Faced with this provocation, the column responded with force: so on two occasions, one in Valencia and another in Castellón, the revolutionaries stormed the courts to destroy judicial records, the City Council to destroy property records, and even attacked the San Miguel de los Reyes prison where they released the prisoners held there. This was due to Pellicer's initiative against prisons, wherever they were, which incidentally complied with one of the agreements of the CNT of the Zaragoza Congress. In Castellón some 65 rightist and fascist prisoners were shot by the column. They also executed 16 others after a removal of prisoners without accusation or trial in Vinaroz. Also in the search for weapons, rifles and machine guns were seized from the Popular Antifascist Guard (GPA), which were keeping them far in the rear. On October 2, 1936, militiamen from the Column evacuated the prisoners in the hold of the Legazpi ship and executed them at the Paterna Picadero. [11]

The CNT at that time was negotiating its entry into the Republican Government, and saw this type of action as a boycott of its initiative, so it disavowed the column and did nothing to counter propaganda campaigns against it. The communist and republican media began to fabricate numerous accusations that the "official" anarchist media did not deny. The anarchist media sympathetic to the column could hardly do so due to the censorship on the republican side.

On October 29, the GPA killed the anarchist Tiburcio Ariza in a raid. At the funeral organized by the Torres Benedito, Iron and CNT 13 columns, they passed near the Generalitat Valenciana which was heavily armed, waiting for a possible attack. When they arrived at the Plaza de Tetuán, headquarters of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), they saw that the communists had prepared themselves, taking advantage of the strength of a battalion that had returned from Madrid, and organized an armed ambush in the square. A young communist protesting against the anarchists approached the demonstration and shot into the crowd. This shot is quickly followed by many others, even by machine gun fire, creating chaos in the plaza. The combat lasted half an hour and caused 56 injuries, of which 49 were from the CNT, and about 30 deaths.

The immediate reaction was to want to bring down Teruel's forces on Valencia. The communists had that battalion, the GPA and about 300 young men in military training. But the CNT committee avoided the confrontation by reprimanding those responsible for the columns. [12] The last thing the CNT leaders wanted at that time were problems with the PCE, just as the details of entering the government were being finalized.

Militarization

When, in November 1936, the Government was evacuated to Valencia due to the proximity of nationalist troops to Madrid, several ministers were arrested, humiliated and threatened with death as they passed through Tarancón, a town controlled by the column. [13] By the end of the year Valencia had become a refuge for republican officials and rulers. In mid-December the columns were summoned for an attack on Teruel, the Iron Column was to attack Puerto Escandón. But the battle was fruitless, since the Republicans did not support the artillery attack and their planes did not know how to take advantage of their superiority, nor did they activate any contiguous front so that the enemy would not send reinforcements.

The Iron Column resisted the government plan of turning the popular militias into regular army units longer than any other group. Reasons for this resistance can be read in an essay titled "A Day Mournful and Overcast", written by a member of the Iron Column. A delegate of the Iron Column said at a CNT congress:

"There are some comrades who believe that militarization settles everything, but we maintain that it settles nothing. As against corporals, sergeants, and officers, graduated from the academies, and completely useless in matters of war, we have our own organization, and we do not accept a military structure." [14]

Delegates more favorable to militarization were sent from other fronts to try to convince the militiamen. Mariano Vázquez and Juan García Oliver also tried to mediate the matter, although they were ignored. The column, along with others with the same opinion, convened a plenary session of anarchist columns to discuss militarization. After the plenary session, it was seen that it was inevitable. Almost all the anarchist militias agreed to militarize. During a month there were many debates within the column that were causing voluntary losses and expulsions. But finally the column decided to militarize itself. To do so it needed to be relieved.

It came down from the front in the second week of March 1937 and was militarized on April 1, [15] becoming the 83rd Mixed Brigade (with many members who had previously been delegates becoming officers). Many members of the column also joined other mixed units, such as the 82nd Mixed Brigade and the 84th Mixed Brigade. [16]

An unknown member of the Iron Column wrote the Protesta ante los libertarios del presente y del futuro sobre las capitulaciones de 1937  [ es ] (Protest in front of the present and future libertarians about the surrenders of 1937) where the author denounces the militarization and the compromises by the CNT leadership at the time. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Revolution of 1936</span> Workers social revolution

The Spanish Revolution was a workers' social revolution that began at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and for two to three years resulted in the widespread implementation of anarchist and, more broadly, libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of the country, primarily Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, and parts of the Valencian Community. Much of the economy of Spain was put under worker control; in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia, the figure was as high as 75%. Factories were run through worker committees, and agrarian areas became collectivized and run as libertarian socialist communes. Many small businesses, such as hotels, barber shops, and restaurants, were also collectivized and managed by their workers.

In 1937, the Nationalists, under the leadership of Francisco Franco began to establish their dominance. An important element of support was their greater access to foreign aid, with their German and Italian allies helping considerably. This came just as the French ceased aid to the Republicans, who continued, however, to be able to buy arms from the Soviet Union. The Republican side suffered from serious divisions among the various communist and anarchist groupings within it, and the communists undermined much of the anarchists' organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Madrid</span> Part of the Spanish Civil War

The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Republican-controlled Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The city, besieged from October 1936, fell to the Nationalist armies on 28 March 1939. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revolutionary Catalonia</span> Part of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War

Revolutionary Catalonia was the period in which the autonomous region of Catalonia in northeast Spain was controlled or largely influenced by various anarchist, communist, and socialist trade unions, parties, and militias of the Spanish Civil War era. Although the constitutional Catalan institution of self-government, the Generalitat of Catalonia, remained in power and even took control of most of the competences of the Spanish central government in its territory, the trade unions were de facto in command of most of the economy and military forces, which includes the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo which was the dominant labor union at the time and the closely associated Federación Anarquista Ibérica. The Unión General de Trabajadores, the POUM and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia were also prominent.

The Friends of Durruti Group was a Spanish anarchist group commonly known for its participation in the May Days. Named after Buenaventura Durruti, it was founded on 15 March 1937 by Jaume Balius i Mir and Félix Martínez, who had become disillusioned with the policies of the CNT-FAI's leadership. During the May Days in Barcelona, they actively agitated among the anti-government forces, advocating for the formation of a "revolutionary junta", in close collaboration with Spanish Trotskyists. Following the suppression of the uprising, the group began published the newspaper El Amigo del Pueblo, in which they denounced the CNT-FAI for "collaborationism", resulting in their expulsion from the organisation. Their 1938 pamphlet Towards a Fresh revolution, which reaffirmed their proposals for a revolutionary junta, became an influential text within the anarchist current of platformism. But the group ultimately failed to make a broader impact within the Spanish movement and collapsed by the end of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Pellicer Gandía</span>

José Pellicer Gandía (1912–1942) was a Valencian anarchist, politician and revolutionary primarily known for being the founder of the Iron Column during the Spanish Civil War. He has been nicknamed the "Valencian Durruti".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madrid Defense Council</span> Ad-hoc governing body during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39)

The Madrid Defense Council was an ad-hoc governing body that ran Madrid, Spain, for about six months during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). It was formed in November 1936 after the Spanish Republican government had fled to Valencia when General Francisco Franco's forces advanced on Madrid. It was expected that the city would fall within a few days, but the arrival of the International Brigades halted the rebel advance, and the situation settled into a stalemate. The council was dominated by communists, who had superior organization and propaganda to the other groups. Their policy was to organize the militias into regular troops and focus on defeating the enemy, rather than to undertake revolutionary activity. As time passed there was growing tension between the communists and more radical groups. The council was dissolved in April 1937 and replaced by a new city council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">84th Mixed Brigade</span> Military unit

The 84th Mixed Brigade, was a mixed brigade of the Spanish Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. It was formed in March 1937 with battalions of the Iron Column and was disbanded after the tragic events at Mora de Rubielos when 46 soldiers were shot by firing squad in a decimation following the brigade's Battle of Teruel December combats in harsh winter conditions.

The People's Army of Catalonia was an army created by the Generalitat of Catalonia on December 6, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. Its existence was more theoretical than real, because the original structure of the popular militias continued to exist despite the efforts of the Generalitat. After the May Days it was dissolved and its structure assumed by the Spanish Republican Army, which definitively militarized the militias of Catalonia and Aragon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederal militias</span> Militia formed during the Spanish Civil War

The confederal militias were a movement of people's militia organized during the Spanish Civil War by the dominant organizations of anarchism in Spain: the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) and the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI).

The Harriers Column of the FAI, or Los Aguiluchos, was the last of the great Catalan anarcho-syndicalist columns. Later, more militias left Catalonia for the front, but they would no longer do so in the form of a column but rather as reinforcement units of the existing columns. This column was supposed to form a large unit - of around 10,000 combatants - but it ended up reinforcing the Ascaso Column as an autonomous column - with about 1,500 militiamen with 200 militiawomen. Organized in the Bakunin barracks in Barcelona, it was sent to the Huesca front on 28 August, with Juan García Oliver and Miguel García Vivancos leading the column.

The Land and Freedom Column was a militia column organized by the CNT-FAI from the regions of Berguedà and Bages as well as from Barcelona. The column was sent to the Central front in mid-September 1936 to reinforce the republican line against a nationalist force. It had around 1,500 militiamen in its beginnings. The column integrated into the Rosal Column and later fought on the Serra de Montsant front. After the militarization that occurred in the spring of 1937, the column became the 153rd Mixed Brigade.

The Torres-Benedito Column was a militia column that operated at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

The Iberia Column was a militia column that operated at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

The Maroto column was a militia column that operated at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular Executive Committee of Valencia</span> Autonomous entity of Spain from 1936 to 1937

The Popular Executive Committee of Valencia was a revolutionary autonomous entity created on July 22, to confront the Spanish coup of July 1936 which started the Spanish Civil War. It was made up of the political forces of the Popular Front and the trade union forces of the National Confederation of Labor and General Union of Workers. Based in Valencia, it covered most of Valencia province and part of Castellón and Alicante.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregorio Jover Cortés</span> Spanish anarcho-syndicalist (1891-1964)

Gregorio Jover Cortés was an Aragonese anarcho-syndicalist and a member of the CNT during the first third of the 20th century. During the Spanish Civil War he was commander of the Ascaso Column and later the militarized 28th Division, which fought on the Aragon front.

The 83rd Mixed Brigade was a unit of the Spanish Republican Army created during the Spanish Civil War from the militarization of the Iron Column. It came to operate on the Teruel, Levante and Central fronts.

The 82nd Mixed Brigade was a unit of the Spanish Republican Army created during the Spanish Civil War. It came to operate on the Teruel and Levante fronts.

Melecio Álvarez Garrido was a Leonese anarcho-syndicalist.

References

  1. ↑ Bolloten 1991 , p. 333
  2. ↑ Girona 2007 , p. 47
  3. ↑ Girona 2007 , p. 47
  4. ↑ Paz 2011
  5. ↑ Mainar Cabanes 1998 , p. 54
  6. ↑ Mainar Cabanes 1998 , p. 60
  7. ↑ Bolloten 1991 , pp. 333–34
  8. ↑ Bolloten 1991 , pp. 334–35
  9. ↑ Pflüger, Juan (November 29, 2017). "La Columna de Hierro, asesinatos y sacas. Así es el mito de los anarquistas" (in Spanish). La Gaceta. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  10. ↑ Bolloten 1961
  11. ↑ Araceli & Garcia Albors , p. 92
  12. ↑ https://www.cedall.org/Documentacio/Premsa%20Llibertaria/Soli/19360000/19361101.pdf
  13. ↑ Vidarte 1973 , p. 531
  14. ↑ Bolloten 1991, p. 333
  15. ↑ Mainar Cabanes 1998 , p. 55
  16. ↑ Bolloten 1991 , p. 342
  17. ↑ "Pubblicato all'origine da "Nosotros", quotidiano anarchico valenciano (della CNT) fra il 12 e il 17 marzo del 1937 (Nosotros era peraltro anche il nome del gruppo catalano di Ascaso e Durruti), il testo che segue venne ripreso molti anni dopo da Abel Paz". digilander.libero.it. Retrieved 2023-08-21.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.