The First Days of the Spanish Civil War, Part 2

are going around and destroying all of the balls. Yeah, they are taking your children and bustloads of black clad athletes are showing up in your city, stimp place. This does make me think back briefly to win. A couple of different anti fascist groups in Seattle and Portland played soccer and it became a whole thing because yeah, they were Oh I used to play anarchist soccer in New

York City and oh that got that got canceled hard. Well, it's it's importantly they got canceled art it also because it was in New York City, there was a bunch of like semi famous actors who would come and play anarchist soccer but then couldn't be like visually associated, so like people would all mask up in solidarity. Whatever camera people would come by because like some famous actor was playing anarchist soccer in the park. That's very funny. Yeah,

that's that's danding. More of that needed. And yeah, these anarchists, of course would just busy doing the traditional anti fast Just think of starting forest fires in Oregon before okay, before the Civil war. So anyway, picking up from the last episode where we left our heroes, Yeah, we're talking about the heroes, right. So with the minitary merging towards the city and every balcony in the working classroom bolt

quickly becoming a sniper's nest. Every rifle was needed at the barricades with Spanish and cattle and tops took an impressed, idented break from being bastards and instead significant elements of the most squadro one of the Seville and the elite paramilitary assault guides grabbed their hand carbines, rifles with names like Tiger and Destroyer, and he took none of them are called Roberts, saddi um and took to the barricades and what missed opportunity. This is why the Spanish lost

Get me my robber. I can see it now, I'm prepared to help you with the advertising. It no, just just gonna bother them right up. That's why they called them bobbies. Yeah, famously. I think we need to make I think it needs to be some sort of like nine barreled electronic volley gun. I want to Yeah, sometimes we could take out to something that could take out at least two Japanese prime ministers at once. You only need two barrels for one prime minister, so you could

get up to four. Yeah, yeah, space some time. Yeah, all right, today, go back and get Joan shiro Koaizumi, finally bring him to justice with a nine barrel gun. Mhm. Okay, So these people, so the cops and the anarchists are fighting alongside each other. Is that what you're just correct? Yep. The anarchists are pulling up paving stones, building barricades, which they had learned in previous conflict with the state could

stop light artillery, and they are welcoming the cops. It's worth pointing out that the here is a Day are not cops, and the here is a Day are very rarely cops. Instead, it's the ordinary people of Catalonia, right, everyone from liberals to left libertarians runs to the barricades, but the anarchist affinity groups, the anarchist defense committees are the mortar that holds together the resistance right. They are experienced, they have plans, They provide imputers and inspiration to the

working class. They are ready when their liberal government is not. Um they're a pretty good handle and fighting in the streets of Barcelona too. This is their home turf Right And incidentally, we see this ship a lot. Like people who are good at fighting the cops become integral and fighting the state happened in the my Dad happened in Too Rear Square, both with ultras right liquor football fans. People who go to football games through also like fighting

cops UM. So like, it's not unprecedented that the folks who are good at fighting the cops become integral at fighting the state when state turns bad turns bad in many cases. They also have more experience when it plating their weapons than the poorly trained conscripts, because it would be pretty hard to have less. There's a little bit

of a debate, a discussion about causality here. Does the coup fail where it does because the cops remain loyal or does the beach head established by the working class at Lava cops who were sympathetic but not convinced to safely remain loyal. Right, So across Spain, it's like not quite the same as the US to the cops are better trained and better armed than the military, but they often hung back until the working class to take a

decisive action. Right um, the was where the winds blowing, Yeah, exactly like they sometimes like occasionally they will do some sort of kingship like in the one city they a couple of the assault guards are their officers side with a coup, so they get shot by their own men. Love to see. In other places they signed to do nothing. In some places the soldiers come for them where I like it, it's on now. But in other places they join with the working classes. They do. In Barcelona, the

civil guard is older. The civil guard tends to be in more rural places where the coup tends to be more successful, and civil guide tends to be less lowered to the republic. The civil Guide in Barcelona waits until noon. The coup is really defeated by noon. By noon, the soldiers all hold up in the food buildings, and it's very clear that they haven't won. And then they come in on a horseback clip clopping down the street doing the raised fist salute, like just milking it to announce

their sort of loyalty to republic. They did have better guns and better marksman, so they were helpful in assaulting their buildings. That came next. Alright, alright, every one, we're here. We saved the day. Yeah, here we go, thin blue line. So what happens all across Barcelona is the tremendously poorly organized army meet well organized when in trench resistance, and they're killed a turn back. So I want to give one example of this from Avonida Carrier. It's related by

Beaver in his book. Now, what they've done in the carrier was taken out huge rolls of newsprint, like the stuff that you put newspaper on, and rolled them into the streets to make a barricade. Right. Um, so yeah, a degree to which people were like ready in amusing ways is it's a great part of this, you know, that was what they had available to them. Seems to be stopping bullets. So is the way to stop bullets? It is? Yeah, lots of layers of newsprint um different places.

So yes, it was yeah, yeah, it certainly seemed to work here. And they had their big old guns like Spanish mouths. Telefighting stops for a second, and a small group of workers and an assault guard closed the distance between themselves and to seventy five millimeter field guns. But

they're holding their rifles above their heads. They said that they wanted to talk and not to fight for a few minutes, to give a passionate speech informing the soldiers they've been lied to that the anarchists were not in revolt, that they were in fact part of a coup, and

that they should not fire on their predatorian brothers. It's not exactly clear what they said, but whatever they said, it worked, and very slowly the seed of class consciousness was planted and it bloomed in about the time it takes to turn a seventy five millimeter gun a hundred

and eighty degrees loaded and fired at your offices. Which, again, it's just so good like that that these powerful anecdotes of like someone just being like, ha, yeah, now that you phrase it like that, we're on the same team. Let me turn this around. Yeah. I also just love to think of the guy who has just been like previously like for God and country gets vaporized by seventy five millimet Again, it's truly magnificent death. So the popular

Olympians are still in town, right. Uh, they turned up to show off as anti fascist, but they didn't really expect to be showing off their anti fascist BUTTA fighters quite like this, But lots of them were winning participants. The Americans were down by the bucket your market, you've probably been there, you've been to Barcelona. He probably bought an edible arrangement um what tourists like to do um. And they watched the streets around them turn into battlegrounds.

You can see the bullet holes in the hotel where they stayed in, some of the cafes around there, and that some of these bullet holes that should be mentioned from a sadah and altogether different battle. A year later and they're there. They popped down of their hotel rooms to take a look at what was going on, got shot at, and then went back inside and then out

of different balconies. But they had this sig of popping out of different balconies, like I don't understand what the fund is going on in their heads, whether like people keep shooting at us, let's continue to try different balconies.

I can see doing that, just being serious, right, like yeah yeah yeah, they and they'd all made friends with Spanish people, right, they were just they were not the athletes of today that they were out late drinking every night, and they were really bummed, very quickly, very upset that we need to get stuck in, like you know, we're young, healthy people and their diaries. They also right about seeing the Spanish women at the barricade and just being like,

oh fuck, yes, this is outstanding. Yeah yeah, they're They're just like because they're very committed, right, like these these anti fatties are very committed to gender equality, like they really are. And it's it's demonsitable in all the communications about the popular Olympics, when they send stuff to unions and unions like here's a team, it's tend dude say like, well that's fucking disappointing, Like where are the women? What are we doing here? Hey? How are we making the

world better with just a bunch of dudes exercising together? Like? Um, so that it really is. I think it's very genuine commitment for them, and they're yeah, they're they're so pumped. So when the fighting lolls, these guys come running out, and they saw those cavalry horses, Right, the cavalry horses that they'd expected to parade down the Rambler in the victorious coup had now been stacked on top of each other as barricades, and so the horses. Yes, they used

the horses as cover. You can find pictures of this. Yeah, yeah, it kind of The horses didn't want to be fascists. Yeah, but I think you can take some solace in knowing that the people who are riding them also got killed. Yeah, you say the horses didn't want to be fascist. This is in the intersection of ship you enjoy robot actually yeah, yeah, shipping on horses and hating fash ye, which are the same horses, would be very good at shipping on fascists

from a great light. Yeah, yeah, I know, r I P. Horses did nothing wrong. Paul went out for the horses. So Charlie Burley runs down into the street, right, He's pretty accustomed to fighting. He's a boxer. He's a mixed race kid who grew up in Pittsburgh, He's refused to go to the Olympics because he doesn't want any of Hitler's bullshit and he doesn't speak Spanish, so all he needs, oh he knows how to do. It's pick up a crowbar, start leavering up, paving stones and helping to build a barricade.

That's universal language. Yeah, breaking ship, and so he just gets stuck in and now I'm rhythm do right. These barricades he built, like I said, they were so strong that they would stop like artillery across the city with and snaps of bullets cracked across the wide boulevards that cut through the regimented grid of the Exemplar snipers were stationed in the bell towers of churches. They picked off the newly formed People's militiaies a dash between the barricades

carrying ammunition of food. A French athlete, the right wing snipers. That's correct. Yeah, yeah, so that you will definitely read it. They were priests, but they're not. I don't think, just a weird you know, if you're gonna put a sniper, then you want to put something up there who knows how toes a rifle. But yeah, that makes yes, yes, So they probably weren't pretty that. That That doesn't mean the priests, we're not betting them surely were. It's some points um,

But yeah, this is why the churches get burned. It's one of the reasons. A group of German exiles suspected their companies diplomats might be involved, so they raided their homes and found massive statues of weapons, which is great. The Republic had very liberal asylum policies, so you have a town of German Italian anti fascists already in town elsewhere people found each other in the streets were joined

up with pre existing affinity groups to form Centuria. Centuria is a Latin word for units for a hundred soldiers. They're broadly based on a language, and they're named after some famous leftist like Tom Mann, Karl Marx Ornst Salomon Rent, their founder of Antifa with a capital H. Later these would become the nucleus of the International Brigades. But the International Brigades were the army of the commintern and the

Centuria weren't basically like under Soviet control. Yes, that's right there, Soviet controlled communist internationals, so they would not trynal Lee stylist more or less right, and certainly like you can read our ship hand about the International Brigades going from a broad popular front leftist alliance to straight up stylists and what that does to their their desire to fight and their ability to fight. And I would suggest that it's not great. That's story as all this time. Yes

it is. Yeah, draw your own conclusions. Cecil lb is very good on that, if you want to read his book. So, these Centuria don't have officers, and they certainly don't have commissars right and off their roll too fight the Nazis. By eleven am, General Goddard has landed from New Yorker. He was hoping to command the city which he The Nationalists thought that the Bathburner would be the easiest city for them, right, they thought it was a soft target,

and they were wrong. I don't know what again, Yeah, not smart. It was only through the intervention of Kalida, her son incidentally killed Trotsky, that his life was spared. He hold up in the headquarters. Headquarters was over run. They wanted to execute him immediately. She intervened. She says, no, you know, we've gotta we gotta do this pretended justice. So we put him on the prison ship of Uruguay and then he's killed a little later after a court martial.

He's executed a few weeks later in the mounch Wee Castle. That in the mounche Wee Castle, the troops had shot their officers and the n c o s had leaded a raid on the armory where they began distributing guns to anarchists. Again, Yeah, very cool. Yeah, I love to see it. The Cattla left and the Catholic Church had some historical disagreements. Right, the Church had a long history of violence towards the left, and the left had equally

long history of violence towards the church. The church had been part of brutal oppression of the working class, right victimization of people, especially of working class women, and as troops withdrew from the city in July, anarchists began to take revenge against the churches. Nune's corpses were disinterred, priests accused of collaboration were executed. By the afternoon, the sky began to fill with smoke. Churches burned all over the city.

Sometimes they had these things called checkers, which were like revenutionary tribunals. Where they put the priests or the murches themselves. Later outside Madrid, there's a famous photo of them like executing a giant statue of Jesus try st after putting it on trial. That's Watch in the Future for Robert Evans is that is a pretty funny bit. It's good. There's a firing squad and everything. That is like a pretty good dedication to the bit. You've got it. Whether

or not you agree with it, you have to respect it. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good T shirt. Maybe we could return to merch and have that that image. But yeah, some Catholics rebuilt it. Daddy, it's it's no longer riddled with bullet holes in its face. Well, it's time to do well, yeah you know what that means. Yes, it's time to kill God and storm heaven. Yeah, and redistribute all them

stuff harps for everyone. Yeah. People wore robes. Actually, this became a bit of an issue because people will be like, lo, look at me, I'm wearing a robe. I pretend to be a priest, and then other people will be like, fuck you priest and shoot them. Yeah, I don't do that. Actually, robes for everyone. Bad idea at a time of anti clerical violence. What you can do is drink all the communion wine, which is what they did. It's sorry, all the blood of Christ is what they do. Yes, yes,

I'm sorry. Actually, I guess it only becomes that in the stomach. Yeah. No, I'm a bad Catholic. I don't remember any of this. Or it's just wine until they until they do the thing and say the words, and then there's something special happens. That's that's that's the the Eucharist. So was the pre blood. Yeah, it's it's pretty blad.

It's just sweet wine. By the twenties of July, the military was all but done for in a city, right, but some of them had retreated back to their barracks immediately they came out promptly, got shot up by a ship ton of people and went nope, and Paul the one returned to the barracks. So smarter than the tourists at the hotel. Yes, although I don't know about that, because these guys end up dying there and the tourists

do not the side one. But yes, yeah, idea true. Well, I would be lying if I said the tourists do not, because one of those tourists does a guy called Albert I'll chacken. They called him chick. He was a coach of the team, community college professor actually, and he leaves, goes back to America and just can't deal with like missing.

It's not so much at the guilt of not being there, it's and I think some of us maybe can relate to this in a way, right, like the missing of being there too, like that, Yeah, and how special it feels roberts off. Robert can can relate to this, right, Like sometimes it's some time you feel the most alive

is when you're trying not to be dead. But also like this was a fucking awesome time, right, Like the cops have joined the working class, the churches are on fire, the bosses are running for the hills, and the army has just had its ass handed to it by like a bunch of men and women in blue overrules. Like I can imagine it felt pretty cool. Um. So he goes home and then he decided to come back. He comes back with his wife. His wife wins the first

art therapy program for children traumatized by conflict. Yeah, the the the pictures are ECSD. I used to go sit with them all the time just kind of I don't feels like a special place, like a nice connection. That's the kind of stuff that gets like left out of history too much, too right, as these contributions like and these like developments that come from political articles that are like not just the gun, the Robert you know or the you know, season of workplace US, but the developing

of art therapy for people dealing with traumatic event that rules. Yeah, absolutely right, Like these people made homeward bombs, but they also made it easier for kids to process their trauma. Like that's what anarchism is, folks. Um. But yeah, Jenny Burman, they hyphenated their last names Berman Chaking uh yeah, advanced, Yeah, highly progressive. Yeah, his wife Jenny was definitely the radical and she she sort of brought him on and he was like, yeah, fucking you got it. Um. So yeah,

he goes back. You can see the pictures at UCSD, they're online too. But Al dies in a sort of chaotic retreat to the International Brigades. No one knows where. Right. I'm trying to write a book about him, have some of his diaries. Just an inspirational guy in a lot

of ways, very nice guy. He's also like he sort of draws a lot of disdain from the other passengers on the boat when they crossed seeing the first time, because the passages keep getting mad that the black folks and the white folks are eating at the same table at dinner from the popular Olympics team, and he's just like super mad at this and like why would you be that way? So it just keeps like getting and

he is a wrestler, right, He's a collegiate wrestler. He at Olympic trials, just keeps getting in people's faces about it. I guess, which like, yeah, is I guess being an ally or something, but just yes, Jenny Berman is in there's a film called The Good Fight, which is about the American volunteers, and you can see her talking about him.

Cool and yeah, I think it's it's obviously pretty difficult experience for her talking about him, but I'm sure the whole thing it's pretty rough, given you know, the things that happened afterwards. But yeah, again, I'm a wonderful person. She's passed away now. But yeah, actually it's it's the interview, it's the full interview with her that I'm waiting for us. I can write about him, and yes she does. Look at the good Fight. It's a good film. So on

the July, the anarchists are assembling outside these barracks. Right, they had to support the police, but I didn't want it anymore, and so they assembled their own troops instead, right, the Olivia Abati, Santi Lascasso and Adesome Chad shit, and they do what the anarchists did at this time, which is they lead a frontal charge on the barracks where there are still machine guns. And so they are brave,

but perhaps not tactically astute. I've read about this where basically one of the problems that people had, like strategically about the anarchists is that the anarchists in Spain were so uh fervent in their beliefs that they basically were like, hooray soon I will be a murder and like all charged the machine guns and like weren't always the most strategic is that map to your understanding or in the early days of the civil war, they're like because they

have been raised for decades of propaganda of the deed, right uh, and like propaganda of the deed is is saying like you know, like you can die as a hero and become an example to the working class and you will elevate the cause. And it's as close to martyrdom as you can get in an atheist political belief, I think. And yes, so they were just like like Ascarsa. Ascaso is a famous anarchist leader. Ascaso is a guy who dies like literally leading the charge frontly on a

machine gun at this time, at this barracks. Right, he dies in less than twenty four hours after the war started. And he's a member of this Nostos group with the Routine and others and Garthie Oliver, and he's the one who gives his name to the pistol. Right. So in Tlassa, the CMT, the the anarchists, anarchis Central Gist take over an arms factory, taken over, the workers run the factory, and they start making these pistols with his name. It's like the only gun that is not in some way

morally compromised. So I guess in that sense he goes on to kill a lot of fascists. And but yeah, they don't want the help of the police, they don't want the tactical advice. The Routie actually later is very good at this. He has regular army officers embedded with his column and he listens to them, and that allows him to be more successful than the other anarchists. But yeah, here the battle cries atlante, which is like, you know, forward, men of the c NT. They had women to but

I guess that's not what they were going for. And they took the barracks along with thirty thousand rifles. Pretty much all of those would be in the hands of working people within a couple of days. Yeah, that's a vast like this is a decent slice of the Republic's

weapons until they get resupplied later. And interestingly, like the the Soviet Union and Mexico supply them, but they the Republican government in Madrid doesn't want people supplying the anarchists, so only um c Z or the check Gun Company are willing to elicitly violate two different arms embargoes to supply the anarchists later in the worst yeah based c Z, Yeah, maybe we can have them be the advert for this episode. Finally, a solid case for the hammer fired arm in modern days,

you have to honor the legacy of c Z. Yeah. Yeah, again, the only the only morally correct firearm to buy. Wouldn't have done that? Motherfucker's Nope, No, I don't see any glocks in an anarchist hands. Uh yeah, by a thirty two a c P. Because it also killed Hitler. It's the most anti fascist you can you can. Hitler killed Hitler. But you know we don't have to go there fascist. Yeah, critical support or you could say, yeah, well you know who else tried to kill Hitler? Hitler? He did once

before in nine after the failed Munich punch. But his friend puts the han Stengel's wife, who he had a crush on, from killing himself, which was a mistake. Yeah, yeah, she let the team down. So see that's where Cez came in, giving him an efficient way to kill himself with no wives around. Did have a wive around, didn't he? See? Well, thank you, Sez. Hitler's dead. Uh. And with that, let's go back to Spain Catalonia. I guess um. So the

French Popular Olympics team left that day. They sang the International Aisle from the deck of their boat as they pulled out the port. A few days later, on the Rambler Parade was organized. The various nations of the Popular Olympics march down the street led inexplicably buy some bagpipers who had arrived with the British team. Hell yeah, that's another international bag page. Yeah yeah, yeah, why why not?

I love that? Like yeah, some anti fascist bagpipers had been recruited by this point, and they all sign the international in their own languages, did the race fist salute that would become the popular friend salute. And they heard a speech, and in the speech they were told, you've come for the Games, but you have remained for the greater front in battling, in triumph. Now your task is clear. You'll go back to your countries and spread the word, the news of what you've seen in Spain. So some

of them went back, and some of them stayed. All in all, about two hundred of them actually uh stayed to fight or came back to fight. Um. Some of their names Bill Scott. He was an irishman who came for the Games. He he went back and forth between Spain and Island. Bunch wrote in some wrote some letters to newspapers to encourage other people to join. His big slogan was a victory for fascism in Spain is a victory for fascism in Ireland and the that's the same

slogan that the other side used to write. Yes, but the Irish volunteers who fought for the fascists were fucking exceptionally useless. Yeah yeah, and may have excelled more than Iris voluteers who fought for the anti fascist a killing fascist, which I guess critical support to them. Um. He fights in the Battle of Madrid, Bill Scott we gets shot in the neck or will style, So they go Robert. Maybe they really were sticking their next out mm hm, and you've got Otto Bosch. Otto Bosch was a lover

of novelists and poet Muriel Rook isiser. He was a cabinet maker, sprinter and literally an actual card carrying Antifa member and now he was a soldier. Um he also died. The sad part about this part of the war is everyone dies pretty quickly afterwards. Yeah, yeah, it's really sad. These people are, you know, as good as people came

and they all end up dead. But let's not talk about I want to focus on the victorious part, so that evening right do Rucci got the olive and about this Anthion go and meet with compounds Ascaso is dead right, because he was on his heroics. They're still in their monos, they're still covered in blood, and they're still carrying their weapons with bitches away. One should meet with a politician,

so he gives them this little speech. And I, like some people say this's apocryphal, I don't really give a funk. I think it's nice. I'm going to read it. It's not very long. Um. Firstly, I must say that the C and T and the FI have never been treated as a true importance merited. You have always been halfly persecuted, and I, with much regret, was forced by political necessity to oppose you, even though always once with you. Today you are the masters of the city and of Catalonia,

because you alone have conquered the Fastist military. And I hope that you will not forget that you did not lack the help of the loyal members of my party, but you have one and orders in your power. If you do not need me as president of Catalonia, tell me now, and I will become just another soldier in the fight against fascism. If, on the other hand, and you believe that I, my party, my name, my prestige, could be of use. Then you can depend on me and my loyalty as a man who is convinced that

the whole past of shame is dead. So that's nice, that's that's cool. I mean, it's yeah interesting, you know, right, it's fascinating. I think it's the clearest we get to a person at a time, being Like in the last twenty four hours, I have gone from president to a guy who has to ask the anarchist for a rifle so I can fight. Yeah, and like it's a you know, people get on that, the Lensky stuff, but this is kind of different, I guess, you know, Like it's good

to find someone who cares about a cause more than power. Yeah. As a rule, if it's your job to be in charge of people, I'm probably not a fan of their job existing. But if when it comes down to it, you you you throw down rather than the hide in a bunker or flee the country to live in exile in I don't know, whatever friendly country, then that's better than the alternative. Yeah, yeah, i'd agree, And I think, yeah, being more attached to this and to yourself preservation or

your power, I think is admirable. For example, if Joe Biden had burned down the third Precinct himself. I think a lot of people would feel more positively towards him. He did, though you didn't. We're not supposed to talk about this on the podcast. Guys, all right, you're right, this is this is yeah again wraps until the mid terms really start to heat up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's

a surprised video of Joe Biden with a firebomb. I was told that he had a kind of ax body sprain of lighter mm hmmmm yeah, that's how he normally roles when he's in Block and all right, sorry, that image is like so cursed that I'm like Joe Biden and Block doing the smile like he's in the Camaro, but we're just holding the ax body sand. But everyone can figure out it's him because he keeps touching people and everyone's keeping He's sniffing everybody's hair, asking if he

can smell the inside of their bala clavas. Uncle Joe, a hero, true anti fascist. Yeah, are you are you going dark Brandon on us? Oh? God, we are. We gonna have to explain what dark bread it is on the pond. I don't think we need to. I don't think that's ever going to be irrelevant. I think we would just say, let's go get up. Kids. Just type Dark Brandon into your Twitter search and see what happened and educate yourself this right now. But please get yeah,

please do because I don't have a clue. No, I have no idea what they're talking about. Yeah, I know on the Internet enough, and I don't think I haven't one to be um, So things go differently on across the country, right, um the Navy. I'm waiting to hear Margaret squeal or scream or cry. I just don't understand. Okay, I think it's that he's a vampire. Yes, go fucking go ahead, tell us about dog brand. I don't know. It's just weird. I don't want to know. Yeah, you

don't need to know. It's fine, it's it's a good time. It's it's it's a good time on the internet. That's all. The Dark Brandon is all right. The Navy doesn't fall for the coup, right, and this leads to this spectacular exchange between the crew of the James, the first Battleship right of the Ministry of Marine crew to Ministry of Marine. We've encountered serious resistance in the minds and officers on board crew to Ministry of Marine, we have subdued them

by force. Urgently request instructions as to bodies. Ministry to Marine to crew, lower the bodies overboard with respectable solemnity. What is your present position? So what they've done there is the officers have declared for the crew for the coup, and the minute the sailors on board the ship have killed them and throwing them over the edge. Subdued by force? What do we do with the people we have subdued?

Just the most amazing radio message like the officers turned out to be Rudd's and then like brief pause, what do you want us to do with their bodies? Again? King? Shit? So it's a few days before the battle lines really get drawn as to who is where, who's on what side of the Spanish Civil War. It's a few days before it becomes clearly this is a civil war because without boats, the rebels seemed to be in trouble, but the fascists came to their abe with planes to where

lift the troops from Africa. The Republic had more troops and more access to supplies, and it looked like they were going to win a war of attrition. That doesn't work out because France, the UK, and the United States abandoned Spain and a fascist do not abandon Franca. I don't really want to finish there. I want to backtrack and think about how many times in the past or the present the working class of a city is spontaneously organized to prevent an army from entering that city, especially

in the age of the tank and the bomber. I can't already think of any and I know if you guys can, but I can come up with one. I got nothing, yeah, anyone, I mean other than Kiev kind of yeah, some of it was at least spontaneous, but yeah, yeah. And it wasn't against their own army like they had an army, no, that is yeah, I mean you could there are pieces of that, and it was it was not as organized or clearly as successful in you know,

the Holy Week uprisings and the Watts riots and stuff. Yeah, yeah, true, yeah, pieces of it. Yeah, I mean, even like in Minneapolis, right, like where the state didn't exist for a while. But uh, this, this revolution is somewhat unique at least in that right, And what happens afterwards, and what happened in the Civil War isn't what I want to end on. You can see this kind of idea in ken Loach's film Land and Freedom, that this was a romantic failure, and I

don't think that's true. I think that the the only way for the Civil Water succeed was doing what it did. For the Republic to succeed was doing what it did well, and what it did well with harnessing the enthusiasm and passion of the working class people to build a better word for themselves. When it became not worth fighting and dying for something, then the war was already lost for a lot of people. Trying to mass behind a conventional war effort doesn't make sense when your enemy has every

advantage in a conventional war effort. But I don't want to focus on that. I want to focus on the last week, when the city is in the hands of the people, when there are no cops and no bosses. People go back to work as collectives when there's no money, but people distribute food to people who need it all across Spain, and not just at the bar of a gun. People collectivised. They collectivising Castile and the socialized industry in Valencia.

And it's a remarkable moment in human history, and it doesn't last more than a year, but I think it shows us that this, this other future was possible. Right. The path we took from to the present day was not the best one, but I like to think that just for just for a little while, it could have done better. And and I think that's where I want to end, really, is thinking about how we could do better. And if people want to read books this this has

already been a long episode. I will say Helen Graham's very short introduction is very good. Um, Anthony Beavo's newer book is good, and you can get an audiobook Julian Casta Nova. It's one of my favorite writers in Spanish and some of his stuff is translated into English. Augustine Giarmad's book Ready for the Revolution on the affinity groups of the CNT and and Chris ellen stuff on Barcelona is excellent, and if you're in Barcelona, Nick Lloyd's Walking

Towards are excellent. Yeah, that's hope. That's enough there. You can watch Ken Loaches film. You can watch I think it's called Parallel Mothers that's on Netflix, a couple of good films. Yeah, thank you so much, Margaret again for joining me too, and hear me drown on about the Spanish Civil War for an hour and I'm into it. I didn't know, well, I've only been learning the details more recently, you know, I've always just heard about it

in in broad strokes and the like. You know, a lot of people like talking about what it means, right, but till about what it means isol But the stuff that's like really interesting to me is the stuff that actually like makes it matter is the the person who shows up and you know, develops ways to deal with trauma by art therapy. And the people who bravely steal dynamite and become named named Rose of the Dynamiter. What was what was her name? Yeah, she loses a hand. Yeah,

it's better than Rose of the Riveter. I mean, no offense to Rosa the Riveter, But Rose of the Dynamiter is is is doing well? Um? What was it called? Dynamiter? Go after all of the libraries keeping the books in prison free knowledge keepers of thought. I really like variants taken away get canceled, but I like libraries and librarians you all aren't ready for this discourse, Margaret, but kill Joy take your librari coroblematic. That's how we know your

a CIA asset because of your pro library style. Yeah, exactly, classic capitalist infrastructure. What where did the CIA train all those people to overthrow governments? The School of the America's what does every school have? Library? Library is the problem because that's the School of America's. There's there's two things wrong with School of America's school and America. Most the problem is the school part. I think the real problems School of the Americas that had School of the Dame,

and we can't have that. That is, that's an oppressive, hierarchical system of learning. Unbelievable. If America Vespucci never came here, maybe things would be different, maybe even better. Wow, anti Italian slander, I'm here for it. Well let's all end on that note. Fuck Italy yea and funk traffic lights, Margaret, Do you have anything to plug? I do. People can get my they can pre order my book that is

all about why traffic lights are bad. Um. It's called we Won't be here Tomorrow, and it's written from the point of view of a traffic light that no, it's knows it's about to be abolished. It's out from a

K press. Um who uses the red and black flag is the logo, and much like the anarchist in the Spanish Civil War who developed the red and black flag, which is to reference, of course, the negation of the red, because the red in the traffic light is what stops you, um, and so the black is the negation the red in this in this case, and that's what happens when you disconnect a traffic light from power. It goes black. No, it's disconnecting ship. But people are shooting the traffic light.

And you know what a k do you know what a K press? Do you know? Do you know what a K press sells? Well? Books and and books? Where do where do books get kept? That's right, that's it's all. It's your everyone is in on it. Okay, Well, if you don't want to be part of the evil world, you can do what is clearly good, which is listened to podcasts and create para social relationships the public medium

of podcasting. And if you want to create a para social relationship with me, you can listen to my podcasts, one of which is called Live Like the World Is Dying. It's an individual community preparedness podcast. And the other one is called Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, which is all about people who defend libraries from people like you, um and anti anti learning nihilist radicals. Yeah, anti library action. That's right. That's right. That's what the l is, isn't it.

That's that's what that that is why I fly the black and gray. I'll just watching alright. Thank yous wants to make me an an Arco goth flag that was black and then black lace. That's great, thanks for having I would fly that al right, Well, thank you for listening. James. Where can people find you online? I'm on the internet. You can just put in my name at James Stout on Twitter. Um. Sometimes I write things I will talk about them there. Great, Well you can find me at

I right, Okay. You can follow the show by cool Zone Media and happen here pod and send any complaints to at Sorry no send no send any complaints to add Okay, okay, yeah, it's okay. I don't read responses. Bye bye, bye bye bye. It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from

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