Where I Stand

The tragic events in Barcelona of last May and all that has followed in its wake impel me to make clear my own position, especially is this necessary since the publication of the manifesto of our French comrades.[1]

It is sad but true, that the glorious achievements of the CNT-FAI between July 19th and the first days in May have received a terrible jolt. I fear very much that the CNT-FAI will not recover from it so soon. From the moment the leaders of the CNT-FAI entered into ministeries and submitted to the conditions imposed upon them by Soviet Russia in return for some arms, I foresaw the inevitable price our comrades will have to pay. Actually all the foreign comrades present in Barcelona agreed that the concessions made by the CNT-FAI were the first wrong step taken in the rise of the Revolution. We foresaw, and we did not hesitate to call the attention of our Spanish comrades to it, that they were about to roll down a precipice. If I nevertheless continued to defend the course taken by some of our comrades I did so because I felt that the gravity of the anti-fascist situation seemed to make the actions of the CNT-FAI inevitable. The other alternative that presented itself was Dictatorship, which the Spanish comrades justly considered the greatest menace. Nevertheless it is unfortunately true that the Anarchist participation in the Government, and the concessions made to Russia have resulted in almost irreparable harm to the Revolution. 

I can therefore understand perfectly the indignation of our French comrades and those in other countries against the CNT-FAI leaders. They have shown anything but clarity and judgment in dealing with their allies. My one objection to the manifesto issued by the comrades of the F.A.F. in France is the charge of treachery and political corruption against the leading comrades in the CNT-FAI. Anarchists are but human, all ‘too human,’ and therefore as likely to betray their cause as other men and women, nor do I think that their revolutionary past would always save Anarchists from being inconsistent. It has not done so in the case of the erstwhile Bolshevik revolutionists. There is a difference however. Lenin and his party aspired to the Dictatorship while the CNT-FAI have from the beginning of their inception repudiated Dictatorship and have held high the banner of Libertarian Communism. 

Whatever compromises the leaders of the CNT-FAI have made and are still making, no one – not even their bitterest enemies – can say that they did so for personal aggrandisement or because they wanted power. 

For myself I find it impossible to believe that anyone of them have turned traitors or have become corrupt politicians within the limited period of six months. I repeat that human nature is vulnerable yet I cannot conceive of revolutionists of such courage, heroism and consecration as demonstrated all through the years in the Spanish Anarchist struggle by our outstanding comrades would so easily have become a prey to the lure of government position. 

I hold no brief for the foolish belief that in entering ministries, Anarchists could hope to effect the course of the Spanish revolution. Or that by accepting the paralysing conditions of Stalin our comrades would hasten the triumph of the anti-fascist cause. Much less do I defend the weak stand taken by the leaders of the CNT-FAI in the tragic battle of May 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th. I certainly consider it an extraordinary reversal of the proud revolutionary stand always defended by the CNT-FAI to turn the other cheek, to call a retreat and to hold back the pent-up feelings of the rank and file by passive resistance. All this does not imply that we should be silent or not criticise. On the contrary we should definitely state our disagreement and we should frankly and honestly call these comrades to account. However, I feel that Anarchists should be more careful than any other social groups to shout anathema against those who have served their cause all their lives or to crucify them at the first display of inconsistency. 

Is there anyone of us who can truthfully say that he has always remained faithful to his ideas? For example our beloved comrade Peter Kropotkin. By his stand on the War he was guilty of a breach of principle. His defence of the allies, his statement that if he were younger he would muster a gun, were diametrically opposed to Anarchism and to everything our great teacher has taught us about War as capitalist conquest and loot. We who were opposed to the world slaughter criticised our comrade and condemned his stand but it never occurred to anyone of us to charge Peter Kropotkin with treachery or corruption. What about ourselves: we were against the world war and some of us went to prison for our opposition to it. Yet, we immediately rallied to the support of the Anti-fascist war. We did so because we consider Fascism the greatest menace in the world, the poisonous contagion which disintegrates all political and social life. The Fascist countries as well as the Russian Dictatorship certainly prove this. One can still breathe in democratic countries, little democracy though they may have. One can still raise one’s voice against every political abuse and social iniquity. One still has a certain amount of security to one’s life and limb. All this is obliterated by Fascism. May it not be, therefore, that the comrades now held up for scorn and all kinds of cruel charges, acted as they did because they felt and feel that everything must be concentrated on winning the anti-Fascist struggle. For it must be obvious to all thinking people that the revolution and all else will be lost if Fascism would win. We outside of Spain, we who do not face starvation and danger, should at least try to understand, if not to excuse, the motivations of the concessions and compromises made by the leaders of the CNT-FAI. 

I wish to state emphatically I stand to-day where I have stood all through my Anarchist life. I believe as fervently as I always have that affiliations with governments and political parties are inimical to Anarchism and harmful. I cannot however remain blind to the fact that life is more impelling than theories, that moments in the revolutionary struggle may arise when it requires superhuman will and the wisest judgment are required to choose the right course. And as I myself am not all-wise or can boast of super-human will, I cannot honestly say what I would have done had I been in the position of the Spanish comrades at the head of the CNT-FAI. For this very reason I am not prepared to accept the charges of treachery or political corruption against them, much as I disagree with their methods. 

In conclusion I wish to say I am with every fibre of my being with the struggle of the CNT-FAI and the Spanish people. Having been closely thrown together with our comrades in every city and hamlet of the parts of Spain I have visited, and having learned to know and love them, my faith in them remains abiding. I know that they will not tolerate for long anyone who will try to stem the tide of their revolutionary feeling and determination. Their ingrained love of libertarian communism will never for long accept any individual or institution that stand in their way. That is enough for me to give myself utterly to the Anti-Fascist and the revolutionary struggle of our Spanish comrades. 

Spain and the World, July 2nd, 1937

Note
1, ‘Et maintenant?’ [‘And now?’] by the Francophone Anarchist Federation (FAF) in Terre Libre, June 1937.