February 1937: Memorandum from War Committee of the Iron Column, 16 February 1937

“In the beginning, the State was merely a specter to which no one paid attention. The workers’ organizations of the CNT and UGT represented the sole guarantee for the people of Spain. Then politics intervened — and almost without realizing what was happening, our beloved CNT has transformed itself into a specter itself, without might or life. All its energies are channeled into strengthening the state whose appendage it has become, and into extinguishing the flames of revolution lit by the workers of the CNT and UGT… Had we the backing of the government and of our own Organization — referring to the responsible Committees — we should have had access to more equipment and men for the relief of our frontline comrades and been able to grant leave; but, since this was not to be, and we had instead to allow our troops to remain month after month in the trenches, it is clear that such a spirit of sacrifice cannot be demanded, nor does it exist, and each day brings tremendous problems… We accept that the Column’s internal problem is not easy to solve, before something serious happens, before demoralization and weariness squander and jeopardize all we have won and held at the cost of infinite sacrifice. Before all of this comes to be grasped, it is absolutely essential to devise some solution satisfactory to all.

…If we are to remain alone in not accepting militarization, contrary to the decisions of the CNT and the FAI, we shall remain starved, not only of governmental support, but also of the backing of our very own Organization. With the necessary aid, our Column would have retained, undiluted, the revolutionary principles which accord with our character, but in the absence of such aid, we are obliged to concede the failure of our approach to war. We know that the overwhelming majority of our comrades will not be able to do less than demonstrate their indignation at those responsible for such a situation, but we warn them right away that their protests will be smothered by violence by the organisms of the state. It is no longer possible to stand up to the state and its injustices, for it is already sufficiently strong to be able to smash any obstacle in its path. Furthermore, the extreme gravity of the moment requires of us that we swallow our bitterness. Yet again we must take our lead from Christ. We are aware of the objectionable features of militarization. A system of the sort does not sit well with our temperament, nor with the temperament of any who have always had a clear concept of freedom. But we are also alive to the inconveniences we should encounter were we to remain outside the orbit of the Ministry of War. It pains us to have to acknowledge it, but only two options remain to us: disbandment of the Column, or militarization. Anything else would be pointless.’

April 1937 —An Open Letter to Federica Montseny

Dear Comrade,

It was my intention to address myself to all your comrade ministers, but once the pen was in my hand, I addressed myself spontaneously to you alone, and I did not wish to go against this instinctive impulse. The fact that I am not always in agreement with you neither astonishes you nor irritates you, and you have shown yourself cordially oblivious to criticisms which it would almost always have been fair, because it is human, to consider as unjust and excessive…

I could not sit back and accept the identity that you claimed between Bakuninist anarchism and the federalist Republicanism of Pi y Margall. I cannot pardon you for having written that “in Russia it was not Lenin the true builder of Russia, but Stalin in fact, the effective spirit with his practical realism, etc.” And I applauded Voline’s reply in Terre Libre to your entirely false claims about the Russian anarchist movement.

But it is not about that I wish to talk with you. On these matters, and indeed on others, I hope one day or another to talk to you personally… If I address you in public it is about matters that are infinitely more serious, to remind you of the enormous responsibilities, of which perhaps you are not aware because of your modesty.

In your speech of 3 January, you said:

“The anarchists have come into the government in order to prevent the Revolution from deviating from its course and in order to pursue it beyond the war, and also in order to oppose all possibility of dictatorial endeavors, from whatever source it might come.”

Well then, comrade, in April, after three months experience of collaboration, we find ourselves confronted with a situation in which serious developments are taking place while even worse ones are beginning to materialize.

Where our movement has little grass roots support, such as in the Basque country, the Levant and in Castile, the counter-revolution is oppressing people and threatens to crush everything. The Government is at Valencia and it is from there that Assault Guards are setting out with the sole purpose of disarming the revolutionary cells formed for defensive purposes. The Vilanesa incident brings to mind Casas Viejas. It is the Civil Guards and the Assault Guards who keep their arms. It is they too, who, in the rear, must control the ‘uncontrollables’ — in other words disarm the revolutionary cells that are equipped with a few rifles and revolvers. This is taking place at a time during a civil war in which anything is possible, and in regions close to the front, a front that is irregular in line and not even mathematically certain. All this is taking place while a political distribution of arms is called for — a political distribution which aims at sending arms only in accordance with strict necessity (strict necessity, we hope, will be enough) to the Aragón front, the armed guard of agrarian collectivization in Aragón and the buttress of the Aragón Council, that Iberian Ukraine.

You are in a government that has offered France and Britain advantages in Morocco, while in fact we should have been obliged to proclaim, officially, the political autonomy of Morocco. I imagine that you, as an anarchist, must think this affair ignoble and stupid; but I believe the time has come to make it known that you and the other anarchist ministers do not agree with such proposals… [Berneri goes on to refer to his article of 24 October, 1936 in which he proposed independence for Morocco].

It goes without saying that one cannot guarantee, simultaneously, British and French interests in Morocco and at the same time agitate for insurrection. Valencia is continuing the policies of Madrid. This must change. And to change it, a clear and firm statement of one’s intentions must be made — because at Valencia there are some influences at work pushing for a peace with Franco.

Writing in the Populaire of 3 March, Jean Zyromski said: “Moves aimed at concluding a peace are clearly visible, a peace which would, in reality, signal not only the end of the Spanish Revolution, but also the total loss of the social conquests already achieved.

“Neither Caballero nor Franco.” Such is the formula that might sum up a certain point of view, and I am not sure if it does not have the support of certain political, diplomatic, and even governmental circles in Britain and in France.

These influences, these maneuvers, explain different obscure points: for example, the inactivity of the loyalist fleet. The concentration of troops coming from Morocco, the acts of piracy against Canarias and Baleares, the fall of Malaga, are the consequences of this inactivity. And the war is not yet over! If Prieto is incapable and indolent, why tolerate him? If Prieto is bound by a policy which paralyzes the fleet, why not denounce this policy?

You, anarchist ministers, you make eloquent speeches and you write brilliant articles, but it is not with these speeches and articles that the war will be won or the Revolution defended. The former will be won and the latter upheld by passing from the defensive to the offensive. The strategy of holding our position cannot last forever. The problem cannot be solved by issuing words of command: general mobilizations, arms to the Front, unified command, the people’s Army, etc., etc. The problem can be solved by accomplishing those things which can be accomplished.

The Dépêche de Toulouse of 17 January published the following lines: “The main preoccupation of the Minister of the Interior is with reestablishing the authority of the State over that of the Groups and the ‘uncontrollables’, whatever their origin.”

It is self-evident that when, for months, an attempt is made to annihilate the ‘uncontrollables’, the problem of liquidating the Fifth Column cannot possible be resolved. The suppression of the internal enemy can only be accomplished by experienced revolutionaries investigating and repressing its activities. An internal policy of class collaboration and of flattery towards the middle classes leads inevitably to tolerance towards politically ambiguous elements. The Fifth Column consists not only of fascist elements, but also of all those malcontents who hope for a moderate republic. At the moment it is the latter who are benefiting from the tolerance of those who persecute the ‘uncontrollables’.

The elimination of the “internal front” was a condition of full and radical commitment by the Defense Committees set up by the CNT and UGT.

We are assisting in the infiltration into the control centers of the popular army of doubtful elements, doubtful elements which do not offer the guarantees of a political and union organization. The political committees and delegates of the militias used to exercise a healthy control which, today, is weakened by the predominance of strictly military procedures of advancement and promotion. We must strengthen the authority of these committees and delegates.

We are witnessing a new development — which could have disastrous consequences — in which whole battalions are commanded by officers who no longer enjoy the esteem and affection of the soldiers. The situation is serious because the value of the Spanish militia is directly in proportion to the confidence they have in their own commander. It is, therefore, essential to reestablish the system of direct election and the right of dismissal from below.

A serious error has been committed by accepting authoritarian structures — not because they were errors as seen from a formal point of view, but because they concealed enormous errors and political objectives that have nothing to do with the needs of the war.

I have had the opportunity of discussing the matter with senior Italian, French and Belgian officers and I have come to the conclusion that they have a much clearer and rational understanding of the real needs of discipline than certain neo-generals who claim to be realists.

I believe the hour has come to establish the confederal army, in the same way as the Socialist Party has set up its own company, the Fifth Regiment of the Popular Militia. I believe the hour has come to resolve the problem of the “One Command” by effectively realizing “unity of command”, a move which would permit us to go on to the offensive on the Aragón Front. I believe the hour has come to do away with the thousands of civil guards and assault guards who are kept away from the Front because their function is to control the ‘uncontrollables’. I believe the hour has come to finish with certain flagrant extravagances — such as respect for Sunday rest and of certain “workers’ rights” which are in direct conflict with the safety of the Revolution.

We must, above all, maintain the morale of the combatants. Louis Bertoni, interpreting the feelings expressed by various Italian comrades fighting on the Huesca Front, wrote not so long ago:

“The Spanish War, thus stripped of all new faith, of all ideas of social change, of any revolutionary grandeur, is no more than a poplar war of national independence that must be fought to avoid the extermination which world plutocracy has in mind. It remains a terrible question of life and death, but it is no longer a war affirming a new regime and a new humanity. We agree that all is not yet lost, but, in reality, all is threatened and attacked; our people have adopted the language of renunciation in the same way as Italian socialism when confronted with the advances of fascism. Beware of provocation! Calm and serenity! Order and discipline!

“All these things which, in effect, boil down to letting matters run their course. And, as fascism triumphed in Italy, anti-socialism in republican guise cannot fail to win, unless the unforeseen comes to pass. It is useless to add that we are simply making a statement of fact, without condemning our own people; we could not say how the conduct of these people could be different and effective as long as Italo-German pressure is increasing at the Front while that of the Bolshevik bourgeois is growing in the rear.”

I do not have Louis Bertoni’s modesty. I presume to assert that the Spanish anarchists could follow a political line different from the prevailing one. My experience of various great revolutions in recent years, and from what I read in the Spanish proletarian press itself, allow me to advise upon certain lines of conduct.

I believe that you must ask yourself the question if you are defending the Revolution better, if you are making a greater contribution to the struggle against fascism by participating in the government — or whether you would be infinitely more useful carrying the flame of your magnificent skill with words to the combatants themselves as well as behind the lines.

The time has also come to make clear the significance for unification that our participation in government could have. We must speak to the masses, appeal to them to judge whether Marcel Cachin is right when he states in Humanité of 23 March:

“The responsible anarchists are multiplying their efforts towards unification, and their appeals are more and more understood.”

Or is it Pravda and Izvestia who are right when they libel the Spanish anarchists, calling them saboteurs of unity?

It is necessary to call upon the masses to judge the moral and political complicity of the Spanish anarchist press as to the dictatorial offenses of Stalin, the persecutions against the Russian anarchists, the monstrous trial against the Leninist and Trotskyist opposition — a silence more than compensated by the calumnies of Izvestia against Solidaridad Obrera.

It is necessary to appeal to the masses to judge whether certain moves to sabotage provisioning are contained within the plan announced on 17 December 1936, by Pravda:

“As for Catalonia, the purging of Trotskyist and anarcho-syndicalist elements has commenced; this work will be conducted with the same energy as that which was done in the USSR.”

The time has come to inquire whether the anarchists are in the government for the purpose of playing the role of vestal virgins tending a fire about to be extinguished, or whether they are there henceforth to serve as the Phrygian Cap for politicians, flirting with the enemy or with the forces anxious for the restoration of the ‘Republic of all classes’.

The problem is set by the clear evidence of a crisis that is outstripping the men who embody it.

The dilemma: war or revolution no longer has any meaning. The only dilemma is the following: either victory over Franco, thanks to the revolutionary war, or defeat.

The problem for you and the other comrades is to choose between the Versailles of Thiers and the Paris of the Commune before Thiers and Bismarck form the Holy Alliance. It is for you to reply, for you are the “light under the bushel”.

Camillo Berneri, Guerra di Classe, No. 12, 14 April 1937