A ferocious waves of reaction descends on militants in the aftermath of Barcelona’s 1919 general strike and the phenomenal rise of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo as the bosses unleash Pistolerismo and murder dozens. The C.N.T. with a day-by-day chronicle from November, 1920 to December, 1921.

‘Pages of Blood (1920-1921): Manifesto of the Spanish National Federation of Labor (C.N.T.)’ from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 2 No. 15. February 24, 1922.

We have received from our comrade of the Spanish N.F.L. a moving manifesto which is justly called: Pages of Blood. We reproduce its essential passages. We request that these terrible pages will be brought to the attention of all workers. The Editor.

It is a year now since the ferocious persecutions reached their arme. The crimes committed have no precedent in history. The aim seems to be the extermination of the working class.

Members of the N.F.L. have been deported from prison to prison, suffering along the routes and in the jails, hunger, thirst, cold, anxiety, and the brutalities of convict guards.

Members of the N.F.L. have been imprisoned by the hundreds without legal procedure. They have been in prison for months and years.

Members of the N.F.L. have been horribly maltreated and tortured. Their bones were broken, their flesh burned and torn.

Members of the N.F.L. have been assassinated in the streets, in cafés, in their own houses, to the great satisfaction of the bourgeois press.

Members of the N.FL. have been liberated from prison, only to be killed the same day.

Members of the N.F.L. have been mutilated and tortured. Their eyes have been burned out by cigars, testicles twisted by guitar strings, tongue and lips torn out.

Members of the N.F.L. have become insane after having been tortured by an application of the electric current.

Members of the N.F.L. have seen their homes broken into at night, their families maltreated, their dwellings laid waste.

Members of the N.F.L., in the thousands have left their children and their families abandoned in poverty while they themselves are in prison.

The locals of the N.F.L. have been closed; its press has been forbidden; its bank deposits seized, the right of association, meeting and speech have been refused it. It is persecuted in all Spain. But it is in Barcelona that the White Terror has reached its apogee.

Here is an unfortunately still uncomplete list of the crimes which the White Terror committed against the N.F.L.

The 5th of November 1920 all the Catalan bourgeoisie without distinction of party met. The industrial crisis had become menacing. The employers decided to take the offensive and demanded that the government dismiss Governor Bas, accused of lax rule.–On the 6th, the Employers’ Federation issued a manifesto demanding the suppression of workers’ unions.–On the 7th, Governor Bas resigned “not desiring to become an assassin’ as he said.–On the 9th General Martinez-Anido was appointed civil governor of Barcelona.–The 10th, the raids against workers’ organizations began. Search. seizure of union books and papers, arrest of 8 comrades.–The 11th, arrest of 11 comrades.–The 12th, arrest of the journalist Amador.–The 17th, night arrest of comrades, members of various committees.–The 20th, arrest of 11 union presidents and secretaries.–The 20nd, night arrest of 22 comrades, notably of Salvador Segui.–The 24th, arrest of the president of the Metal Workers Committee.–The 27th, assassination of comrade José Canella and attempt upon the life of Andrés Nin.–The 28th, arrest of the republican lawyer, Companys, counsel for the Syndicalists.–The 29th, several arrests; attempt upon the life of comrade Borth.–The 30th, assassination of Francisco Layret, lawyer, counsel for the Syndicalists. In the street in full daylight 36 militants, most of them présidents and secretaries of unions seized and deported to Makon. The same night over 50 comrades are arrested.

December 1920. The 4th, the lawyers who undertook the defense of the militants receive letters threatening death.–8th, assassination of Evaristo Villana.–9th, arrest of 57 militants.–12th, night arrest of 12 militants.–14th, deportation of 20 militants into the province; they travel on foot through deep mud under winter rain.–17th, arrest of comrade Pestagna, expelled from Italy. Deportations continue; thy are becoming permanent. The deportees torn from their families and led to some unknown destination. They receive for their food the ridiculous sum of 50 centimes daily.–23th, assassination of Juan Llobet. Jaime Parra and three other comrades are wounded by assassins of the free unions.–24th, assassination of José Soler in the street.–28th, assassination of José Aymerich in the workshop.

January 1921: 3rd, José Julian Monclus killed.–5th, Olegareo Miro, president of the unions of Saint-Andre seriously wounded. Mass arrest and deportations.–20th, Juan Villanueva, José Feries Ramon Gomar, Diego Parra of the Valencia organization arrested in a café and taken to prison; on the way three of them killed by the police and the fourth mutilated.—21st, attempt upon the life of Antonio Elias Quer and his apprentice Gonzalo. They are arrested and tortured by the police. Assassination of José Perez Espriu, Francesco Bravo and Benito Menacho; Augustin Flor seriously wounded. The four comrades were first tortured by the police in presence of the General Martinez Anido who himself struck Benito Menacho in the sexual organs.–21th, at Valencia, Comrades Manuel Hernandez and Antonio Gil are assassinated by the Guardia civil.–22nd, again at Valencia the secretary of the Wood Workers’ Union Alfredo Masero is assassinated. The same day the somatenas kill Hermenegildo Latasa.–25th, 2 young men, Domingo Ribas and Ricardo Pi, 18 and 20 years of age respectively are killed through the application of the ley de fuga (law of flight) after having been atrociously tortured at the prefecture.

February. 8th, Alberto Coll and Batista Tolon, members of the building trade-union are killed by assassins in the employ of the free unions.–10th, José Torres Cortes seriously wounded.–17th, assassination of Lorenzo Planas. The hunt after union members becomes the order of the day of the bourgeoisie and is approved by the government of Dato.–17th, Antonio Barguer Casanova is seriously wounded.–22nd, Hernandez and Joaquin Villansa are seriously wounded by the police; José Riera is killed.–25th Comrades José Crusat and Sébastian Canals are killed.–26th, André Valls Ventura is killed, 3 other comrades are wounded.–28th, attempt on the life of Agustini Canet and Luis Tubau who is wounded. At Valencia Juan Perez is killed by the Guardia Civil.

March. 3rd, Arrest of Evelio Boal who is kept in secret confinement several days. When he comes out he is incapable of moving his bruised and broken limbs.–4th, Juan Barachi is wounded by the police.–8th, the man chiefly responsible for all these crimes, the president of the Council, Dato, is killed at last by a courageous representative of general indignation.–18th, Armando Rodénas dies as a result of the torture he underwent at the hands of the police.–19th, attempt on the life of Comrade Corominas.–22nd, assassination of the young comrade Emilio Despla.–28th, Augustin Subirats is killed in his home; 4 other comrade are wounded the same day.

For about one month assassinations cease. Only arrests and detention go on as before. But the bloody series is soon continued.

April. 15th, Hilario Felipe, struck in the street by several bullets, is wounded mortally.–16th, several workers of the farm. Alexandre are attacked by members of the Free Union is killed, several wounded.–27, José Piquetas is killed by the police.–28th, Jaime Gras is seriously wounded.–29th, assassination of Francisco Rafols and José Monserrat.–30th, assassination of Felipe Lozano.

May. 1th, Andre Scabré and Julian de Pedro are wounded by the somatenas.–6th, assassination of J. Torrescasana.–10th, Gregorio Faber is killed by the police (ley de fuga). The same day Bertan and José Palau fall under the blows of the White bands.–18th, assassination of M. Mas.–20th, Vicario Pfeiferrer is killed.

At this time maltreatment and torture become general in the prisons. The prisoners are threatened with “poison injections” to be rid of them. General Arlegui presides at the special cross examinations which are sessions of torture.

June. 1st, assassination of Pedro Planellas.–2nd, assassination of Ramon Girones. 8th, assassination of Pedro Ramos.–10th, assassination of B. Peyo and E. Miguel. The same day at Mataro, several comrades killed in the Aragonats bar.–11th, assassination of Jesus Parrado.–17th, assassination of Rosendo Gimenez, editor of the liberal Tarde and attempt on the life of the director of the journal who disapproved of these crimes. The same day, Evelio Boal and Antonio Pehu, secretary- treasurer of the N.F.L., are assassinated on leaving the police station. The workers in the prison who refuse to receive “injections” are liberated only to be met by assassins upon leaving.–18th, José Dominguez of the glass workers’ committee is killed.–21st, Antonio Coll is killed.–27th, Ramon Archs and Pedro Vandellos, two of the best militants of the Barcelona organization, are killed after having been frightfully tortured. Archs had his eyes crushed, his bones disjointed, his skull cut up. Vandellos was decapitated. Francisco Jordan, former secretary of the N.F.L., well-known libertarian writer, is assassinated. Conrade Gaspar after having been tortured is liberated only to fall in the street under the blows of the police.–29th, Emilio Cervera Caves and Ramon Panella are killed by the police after frightful tortures. In Gironella, Comrade Segal is wounded. At Bilbao 2 union workers are killed in the shop.

August. At Sueca (Valencia) Camillo Albert, José Franqueza and Batista Frau are assassinated.

November. 30, Disappearance of Jaime Llenas and other

comrades.

In the first days of December comrades J. Aycart, I. Calduch, Mestre, Molins, Jaime Espina, Juan Alemany, El Mano were assassinated.

There are now in the prisons over 1500 of our comrades at the mercy of their inquisitors. For three years, the country. has been witnessing these crimes insensibly. Whenever one speaks of social questions it is only to enlarge the police army that is, the army of crime. The blood of the hundreds of militants assassinated, the suffering of the thousands of prisoners, the anxiety and starvation of the families are crying vengeance, Remember them!

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1922/v02n015-feb-24-1922-inprecor.pdf