‚Magnificent.’—Paul Preston, author of The Spanish Holocaust
Brick maker by trade, revolutionary anarchist and historian by default; this is a study of the life of José Peirats (1908–1989) and the labor union that gave him life, the CNT. It is the biography of an individual but also of a collective agent—the working class Peirats was born into—and the affective ties of kinship, friendship, and community that cemented into a movement, the most powerful of its type in the world.
Chris Ealham is the author of Anarchism and the City: Revolution and Counter-revolution in Barcelona, 1898–1937.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction
Chapter 1: A rebel youth (1908–23)
1.1. Vall d’Uixó
1.2. Barcelona
1.3. Collblanc
Chapter 2: From the street gangs of Barcelona to the anarchist groups (1923–30)
2.1. The forging of a revolutionary
2.2. The affinity group
Chapter 3: The 2nd Republic: the split in the anarchist movement and ‘revolutionary gymnastics’ (1931–33)
3.1. The short republican honeymoon
3.2. ‘The University of La Torrassa’
3.3. Radicalisation: the ‘man of action’ in the streets
3.4. The ‘cycle of insurrections’: internal schism and demoralisation
Chapter 4: The revolutionary writer (1934–36)
4.1. ‘Public Enemy Number One’
4.2. His ‘Golden Age’ at Solidaridad Obrera
4.3. Anti-fascism, the Popular Front and dissidence
4.4. The May 1936 Zaragoza Congress
4.5. The revolutionary: the military coup and revolution from below
Chapter 5: A revolution consumed by war (1936–39)
5.1. The dissident anarchist
5.2. Censure: the triumph of the CNT-FAI leadership
5.3. The war and defeat
Chapter 6: Stateless: the anarchist nomad in French concentration camps and the Americas (1939–47)
6.1. The Vernet d’Ariège Concentration Camp
6.2. Penury and exile in the Americas
Chapter 7: Exile in France and the struggle against anarchist bureaucracy (1947–65)
7.1. Chief of ‘the Toulouse school of terrorism’
7.2. The brick maker becomes a historian
7.3. ‘The head of the CNT’ jailed and tortured
7.4. Love and family in exile
7.5. The fight for culture and the unity of the CNT
7.6. Reunification and division
Chapter 8: The limits of the ‘new’ anarchism (1965–75)
8.1. The Grupos de Presencia Confederal y Libertaria and the ‘New Left’
8.2. The inexorable decline of the CNT in exile
8.3. A restless pen confronts the deep condescension of the past
Chapter 9: The return of the ‘democratic danger’ (1975–89): the rise, splintering and decline of the CNT after Franco
9.1. Hope
9.2. Disillusionment
9.3. The return to his roots: Vall d’Uixó (II)
Chapter 10: Conclusion: An indispensable life
Bibliography
Index
Über den Autor
Chris Ealham: Chris Ealham currently lives and works in Madrid, where he teaches History at Saint Louis University. He is a specialist in Spanish labor history and movements, especially those of anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist inspiration. His work has been translated into Castilian, Catalan, French, and Italian. He is the author of Anarchism and the City: Revolution and Counter-revolution in Barcelona, 18981937 (AK Press 2010)