Crónica de la Columna de Hierro

by Abel Paz

El 19 de julio de 1936 los trabajadores se vieron obligados a lanzarse a la calle para evitar el triunfo del levantamiento militar fascista en ciernes. El pueblo desarmado se vio obligado a proporcionarse él mismo armas y medios de defensa, ante la actitud por lo general titubeante de las autoridades republicanas, para hacer fracasar en un primer instante el golpe de Estado militar. Una vez tomado su futuro en sus manos, la clase trabajadora transformó prontamente la resistencia contra el fascismo en una revolución social que dejaría profunda huella en el campo y en la industria de buena parte de la Península. La expresión revolucionaria y autónoma del pueblo en armas serían las milicias anarquistas. Sin jerarquías, sin rituales militares, sin diferencias de pagas y con una estructura interna y medios de decisión absolutamente democráticos, las milicias se convertirían en el garante de la revolución tanto en el frente como en la retaguardia. La historia de la Columna de Hierro es un caso paradigmático de entrega y arrojo revolucionarios. Formada principalmente por hombres y mujeres procedentes del Levante valenciano, los testimonios conservados y su periódico interno, Línea de Fuego, nos permiten reconstruir en el presente libro tanto el funcionamiento de la columna como sus discusiones internas, reflejo brillante en todo momento de la preocupación sobre su papel en la guerra y en la defensa de la revolución social, así como sobre las consecuencias de la militarización. La Columna de Hierro sería una de las últimas columnas anarquistas en integrarse en el sistema de brigadas del Ejército republicano, y su resistencia a la militarización le llevaría a enfrentarse a las propias organizaciones del movimiento libertario.

Genres: History, Spanish Civil War, Politics, Nonfiction, War

259 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2001

About the author

Abel Paz was a Spanish anarchist, former combatant and historian.

Abel Paz was the pen name of Diego Camacho. He was born in Almería in 1921, and moved with his family to Barcelona in 1929. In 1935 he started work in the textile industry and joined the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

During the Spanish Civil War and Spanish revolution he fought in the Barcelona May Events of 1937.

After the fall of Catalonia in January 1939, he went into exile in France, where he was interned. During the 1940s he fought both in the French resistance to Hitler and the Spanish Anarchist resistance to Franco.

He was the author of numerous works on anarchist history, the most important being his biography of Buenaventura Durruti which has appeared in several editions, and numerous languages.

Reviews

[Daria Skylark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is certainly not what you have to read as an objective introduction into the history of the Spanish civil war and as your first book on the topic. Relax and read Borkenau for that. As for The Story of the Iron Column, come back to it when you feel that you know enough on the general stuff.
I am putting this book on my shelf with a mixed impression. On the one hand, I couldn't help admiring the hard work of research Abel Paz has done to complete this story. On the other hand, from time to time I felt tempted to just drop it because, in fact, there is no real "story" in there. Or, to be more exact, the story cannot be seen through a pretty thick mass of details, mostly irrelevant to it (though I admit that they might be useful for some specific purpose, such as finding out smth about some person who fought in the war or completing some study). Unless you have a photographic memory, you will never remember all these details, and you will, which is more likely, just end up skipping them.
What helped me to finish the book then, besides the feelings of solidarity, respect and gratitude for the author and translator's efforts? The very fact that it wasn't my first book encounter with the Spanish civil war. Not only did it make reading this book easier, but it also provided me with some background knowledge which I could, thanks to Abel Paz and Paul Sharkey, enrich by finding specific examples confirming general things already known.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We are rebels and we keep the banner of rebellion flying high. . . . We are vilified and denounced as heretics. But our heresy honors us, dignifies us, and raises us up to the very summit of truth. We are the true light of the new life, because we were born for liberation. We are the immense legion looking for completeness, so that all may love one another. We have no pay to offer other than the path of light and brotherhood."

A fascinating study of the Iron Column, based out of Valencia, denounced as uncontrollables and provocateurs by all sides, including the bureaucratized committees of the CNT and even the FAI. When the Column opened the doors of the Modelo prison, many of the inmates joined the anarchists. Unlike the Durruti Column, the Iron Column not only fought at the front and assisted agricultural collectives, but returned to the rearguard to shake things up, burning police archives, expropriating jewelry stores to buy weapons, disarming government troops, and fighting the communist counterrevolution.

It's interesting to see the extent to which, by early 1937, the Iron Column actually represented mainstream "confederal" opinion, opposing the CNT National Committee for its entrance into government, and refusing to "militarize," i.e. become a regular army unit with officers. Boycotted and deprived of arms and ammunition by the government and even the CNT, the Column was forced into tragic decisions.