10. The May Days: Barricades in Barcelona¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 10: The May Days: Barricades in Barcelona¶
By May 1937, the counter-revolution had systematically encroached upon the working-class power that the CNT had established in Catalonia after July 1936. The PSUC exploited the murder of Roldan Cortada to escalate repression, while Carabineros seized customs from worker-patrols and Assault Guards disarmed militants on sight. The crisis erupted on May 3, when PSUC Commissioner Salas led Assault Guards to seize the CNT-held Telefonica—a symbol of dual power. Within hours, armed workers built barricades, and by May 4 they dominated Barcelona, its port, and suburbs, isolating government forces in the bourgeois centre. A revolutionary seizure of power was possible. The Bolshevik-Leninists and Friends of Durruti called for a revolutionary junta; the CNT and POUM leaders refused, arguing the revolution would be isolated, Franco would break through, and Anglo-French warships would intervene.
These arguments are rebutted decisively. The analogy with July 1917 in Petrograd is false: Spanish workers had six years of revolutionary experience. A workers’ Catalonia would have spread, not been crushed. The People’s Front’s fear of revolution prevented using political weapons against Franco; the wait-until-after-Franco tactic doomed the revolution. The government massed picked troops in cities, withdrew men from the front, subordinated Asturian and Basque workers to treacherous bourgeois command, and sabotaged CNT-held fronts—destroying morale and easing Franco’s advance. Only a workers’ republic could end this sabotage.
The CNT’s references to Anglo-French warships obscured the fundamental issue: every social revolution faces capitalist intervention. The Russian Revolution survived it; the Hungarian Revolution was crushed. No specific conjunctural analysis was offered for May 1937. Intervention was less likely than in 1931: the French proletariat was in its second year of upsurge since June 1936. A Spanish social revolution would have fired French, Belgian, and English workers. The French bourgeoisie would have opened borders or faced revolution at home. The two factors that saved the Russian Revolution—world working-class resistance and imperialist disunity—would have operated in May 1937.
The CNT leaders forbade action and ordered workers off the barricades, engaging in interminable negotiations while the government fortified its positions. The POUM ordered its members off the barricades on Thursday, despite continued firing. Camillo Berneri was murdered by PSUC guards. The CNT allowed 5,000 Assault Guards to occupy the Telefonica under a broken agreement, then suppressed news from outlying districts. In Tarragona, the CNT agreed to disarm in exchange for promises; that night, Assault Guards killed twenty anarchists. Casa CNT noted this was ‘breaking the word of honour’. When 1,500 Assault Guards from Valencia reached Tortosa, the CNT ordered they not be opposed. The CNT issued a calming manifesto declaring a return to normal and continued collaboration with the central government. The POUM’s English bulletin gave a distorted ‘left face’ account of its conduct, while its Spanish press remained silent. The masses knew nothing of these events.