The Durruti Column in vivo

This comment concerns the 2 volumes of french edition published in 2016 by Libertalia.

The first volume contains the story of Antoine Gimenez, the second brings together the remarkable documentary research work carried out by the Giménologues, which makes it possible at any time to illustrate, in a precise and lively way, the historical context and the events described in the story.

It was only in 1974 that Antoine Gimenez decided to gather his memories and compose his autobiography; thus, the second volume also proves very useful in compensating for the few, all natural, lapses of his memory.

The central theme of this work is, of course, the Spanish Revolution of 1936 and the extraordinary historical experience that it was and continues to be. More specifically, it is about the International Group that was formed in 1936 at the heart of the Durruti Column on the Aragonese front (not to be confused with the later International Brigades).

Antoine Gimenez’s account is truly fascinating, both because of its subject matter and because the author has a real talent for writing, enabling him to recount his experiences with a rare degree of accuracy. So you never have to worry about being bored.

This taste for the truth was also the reason for the late publication (2006) of this book. The ridiculous prudishness and conformism of certain editorial circles did not allow them to conceive that historical accounts and the realities of daily life could be mixed together. For Antoine unabashedly recounts not only the confrontations and battles in which he participated and his friendships, but also the various romantic encounters that punctuated his experience and were in a sense inseparable from it. This is what continues to offend contemporary puritans of all stripes and their sad conception of life.

In this book, because of their presence on the Aragonese front and, often, their more or less temporary membership of the famous Durruti Column, we meet many characters who later achieved a certain degree of fame (such as Simone Weil), but also genuine revolutionary heroes and heroines who would have remained anonymous without its existence.

And then we have here a first-hand account of the exemplary existence of the agricultural collectives in Aragon between 1936 and 1937, which, through their success, foreshadowed what communalism put into practice could be. It should be noted that it was not the Franqusts who put a brutal end to this magnificent experiment, but Stalinist militarism, which could not bear such a demonstration of popular autonomy and assembly democracy.

It also demonstrates the terrible cowardice of the Western democracies, led by Great Britain and France (despite being under the government of the Popular Front), who refused to give any aid to Spain in its struggle against fascism, even though Franco’s forces were receiving massive aid in the form of equipment and military cooperation from Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy.

This cowardice would soon be paid for dearly. But capitalism and its various representatives would always choose fascism or any other totalitarian regime over the development of a genuine popular revolution that would put an end to its reign. Such is its conception of “democracy”.

The lesson is still very much relevant today.

Memories of the Spanish Civil War. July 19, 1936 – February 9, 1939.: The Sons of Night

Translated by TerKo with the help of a free translation tool.