View source for Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia

{{Short description|Administrative body of Catalonia (July–October 1936)}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia
| native_name                   = Comitè Central de Milícies Antifeixistes de Catalunya
| image                         = Comité_Central_de_Milícies_Antifeixistes.jpg
| image_size                    =
| alt                           =
| caption                       = Organization chart of the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias
| dates                         = 21 July–1 October 1936
| disbanded                     = 1 October 1936
| country                       = {{flag|Catalonia}}<br />({{flag|Spanish Republic}})
| countries                     =
| allegiance                    =
| branch                        =
| type                          = [[Administrative division]]
| role                          =
| size                          =
| command_structure             =
| garrison                      = [[Barcelona]]
| garrison_label                =
| nickname                      =
| patron                        =
| motto                         =
| colors                        = <!-- or | colours = -->
| colors_label                  = <!-- or | colours_label = -->
| march                         =
| mascot                        =
| anniversaries                 =
| equipment                     =
| equipment_label               =
| battles                       =
| decorations                   =
| battle_honours                =
| battle_honours_label          =
| flying_hours                  =
| website                       = <!-- Commanders -->
| current_commander             =
| commander1                    =
| commander1_label              =
| commander2                    =
| commander2_label              =
| commander3                    =
| commander3_label              =
| commander4                    =
| commander4_label              =
| commander5                    =
| commander5_label              =
| commander6                    =
| commander6_label              =
| commander7                    =
| commander7_label              =
| commander8                    =
| commander8_label              =
| commander9                    =
| commander9_label              =
| notable_commanders            =
}}
The '''Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia''' ({{langx|ca|Comitè Central de Milícies Antifeixistes de Catalunya, CCMA}}) was an administrative body created on 21 July 1936 by the president of the [[Government of Catalonia]], [[Lluís Companys]], under pressure by the [[anarcho-syndicalist]]s of the [[National Confederation of Labor]] (CNT) and [[Iberian Anarchist Federation]] (FAI), which led the workers' struggle against the [[July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona]].
== History ==
=== Beginnings ===
The [[Spanish coup of July 1936|18 July coup]] failed to gain control of [[Catalonia]], due to the victory of [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|republican forces]] on the one hand and the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|workers' revolt]] led by the [[CNT-FAI]] on the other. These events turned the distribution of power in Catalonia upside down: the [[anarchists]], until recently relegated to the underground, emerged as the main force after defeating and taking control of strategic positions in the city, such as the artillery barracks of [[Sant Andreu|L'Harmonia]]. There they captured 30,000 rifles which they distributed among their militias.
After the defeat of the military uprising in Barcelona, the [[National Confederation of Labor|CNT]] was in a position of superiority over the rest of the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican faction]] in [[Catalonia]]. However, the situation was very unclear in the rest of Spain. The news that came was quite confusing and contradictory about cities changing sides. From the first days the [[Generalitat of Catalonia]] was totally overwhelmed by the mass actions in the streets, through popular committees that organized life in the [[Districts of Barcelona|neighborhoods of Barcelona]]. Likewise, [[Confederal militias|popular militias]] were formed with weapons seized from army arsenals and they went in groups to liberate other areas held by the rebel army (even before the first columns of militias were established).
In this situation of lack of legitimacy of the republican [[State (polity)|state]], a joint body was established by the different [[Catalans|Catalan]] [[anti-fascist]] [[political parties]] and [[trade unions]] (which at that time dominated the streets). Thus, the CCMA became a parallel government that coexisted with that of the Generalitat for two months. At no time was it a "[[dual power]]" structure as in the time of the [[Soviet (council)|soviets]] in [[RSFSR|Russia]], but a duplication of powers. The two governments coexisted and did not face each other until the dissolution of the CCMA was decided on in August.
When, on 21 July, Companys received the anarchist delegates, who were practically coming straight from a 30-hour battle in which they had not yet slept or washed,<ref>{{cite book | last = Garcia Oliver | first = Juan | title = From July to July | pages = 193 | location = Barcelona | publisher = CNT | date = 1937 | chapter = Los organismos revolucionarios – El Comité Central de las Milicias Antifascists of Catalonia | language = es }}</ref> he told them:
{{quote | First of all, I have to tell you that the C.N.T. and the F.A.I. they have never been treated as they deserved for their true importance. You have always been harshly persecuted; and though I was with you before, I, with much pain, but forced by the political realities of the time to confront and persecute you. Today you are the owners of the city and Catalonia, because only you have defeated the fascist military, and I hope that it will not hurt you that at this moment I remind you that you have not lacked the help of the few or many loyal men of my party and the guards and mossos ...
<br />
But the truth is that, harshly persecuted until the day before yesterday, today you have defeated the military and fascists. Therefore, knowing who you are, I cannot use language that is not of great sincerity. You have overcome and everything is in your power; If you do not need me or do not love me as [[President of Catalonia]], tell me now that I will become one more soldier in the fight against fascism. If, on the contrary, you believe in this position, that only in death I would have left it to the triumphant fascists, I can, with the men of my party, my name and my prestige, be useful in this fight, which although it ends today along with my prestige in the city, we do not know when and how it will end in the rest of Spain, you can count on me and my loyalty as a man and as a politician who is convinced that today a whole embarrassing past is dying, and who sincerely wishes that Catalonia leads the way of the most advanced countries in social matters. | Memories of Juan García Oliver <ref>Juan García Oliver, '' The echo of the steps ''</ref>}}
According to some testimonies, Companys himself was the architect of the idea:
{{quote | Companys proposed to the anarcho-syndicalist leaders the creation of a new organism, made up of representatives of all the leftist and unionist political forces, that would be in charge of facing the fascist threat. This body was to be called the ''Central Committee of Antifascist Militias''. The first objective that Companys considered was to reorganize the armed forces through this new organism, and gave this purpose to the Militia Committee, which extended membership to all political and union forces hoping that anarchists, essentially combative men, would join it and ignore political matters. | Ramon Brusco, 2003 <ref name = RB>{{cite book|first=Ramon |last=Brusco|title=The anti-fascist militias and the popular army in Catalonia| publisher=Edicions el Jonc|year=2003|location=Lleida|volume=I|page=28|isbn=84-932034-2-4|language=ca}}</ref>}}
The Committee had a clear predominance of anarchist organizations, although it included all the forces of the [[Popular Front]] ([[Republican Left of Catalonia|ERC]], [[POUM]], [[PSUC]], [[Republican Union (Spain, 1934)|Republican Union]], [[Unió de Rabassaires]] and [[General Union of Workers|UGT]]). It had a delegate commissioner from the [[Government of Catalonia]], named [[Lluís Prunés]], and a military chief, named [[Enric Pérez i Farràs]]. In practice, it was the strong personality of the anarchist [[Juan García Oliver]] that dominated the committee during its two months of life.
The Committee settled immediately in a large building in the [[Pla de Palau]], in Barcelona, occupied by the Nautical School. It quickly organized and carried out the first expeditions of militiamen to the [[Aragon front]]. Three of its members, [[Buenaventura Durruti]], Pérez i Farrás and Del Barrio, took direct command of two sectors of struggle in this first outflow of forces. Within a few days, they were able to organize a front in [[Aragon]] with a force of around 11,000 troops, between the military and militias.<ref>{{cite book|last=Berger|first=Gonzalo|title=The Antifascist Militias of Catalonia. Volunteers for Freedom.|language=ca|date=2018|publisher=Eumo|location=Vic|page=90|isbn=978-8497666404|oclc=1056199061}}</ref>
Before the collapse of the state authority in Catalonia, the Militia Committee was a living organ which had to face the war, precipitously creating what the war needed and which did not exist in Catalonia at the time: the organization of armed forces, creation of War Schools, Military Health, supplies, transportation, war industries, operations management, etc. The Committee and the Ministry of Defense were responsible for assembling and equipping the militia columns. With the application of the [[Non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War|non-intervention treaty]] on 8 August, [[1936]], it became impossible to legally purchase war material from the European democracies, the committee was forced to buy weapons illegally from traffickers and pass -they across the French border.<ref>{{cite book|last=Berger|first=Gonzalo|title=The Antifascist Militias of Catalonia. Volunteers for Freedom.|language=ca|date=2018|publisher=Eumo|location=Vic|pages=102|isbn=978-8497666404|oclc=1056199061}}</ref>
Frequently, the authority of the Central Militia Committee ended on the outskirts of Barcelona, where the power of the revolutionary committees of each locality began. Simultaneously with the Central Committee, there existed other Territorial Power Boards around Catalonia. In the [[province of Tarragona]], in the industrial city of [[Reus]], a local Popular Front government had been formed that was led by anarcho-syndicalists. In the city of [[Lleida]], the Territorial Power Board was under the control of the POUM, and within it there was no representation for other republican parties nor did it have any type of link with the Generalitat.
=== Development ===
Between 21 July and mid-August 1936, the [[Control Patrols]] were established under the "Central Committee of Anti-Fascist Militias" (CCMA). Approximately half of the 700 patrol cars had a CNT card, or were from the FAI; the other half was affiliated with the other component organizations of the CCMA. Only four section delegates, out of the eleven that existed, were from the CNT: those from [[Poblenou]], [[Sants]], [[Sant Andreu|L'Harmonia]] and [[El Camp de l'Arpa del Clot|Clot]]; four others were from ERC, three from PSUC and none from POUM. The Control Patrols depended on the CCMA Investigation Committee, led by Aurelio Fernández (FAI) and Salvador González (PSUC).
At the suggestion of [[Martí Barrera i Maresma]], the ''Consell d'Economia de Catalunya'' (Economic Council of Catalonia) was created on 11 August 1936 <ref>{{cite book | last = Cendra i Bertran | first = Ignasi | title = El Consell d'Economia de Catalunya, 1936–1939: revolution and counter-revolution in a collectivized economy | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cnUz95kYRw0C&q=Consell+Suprem+de+l'Economia+companys&pg=PA183 | location=Montserrat | year = 2006 | pages = 24–25 | isbn = 848415775X}}</ref> to carry out a [[socialist]] transformation of the economic and social foundations of Catalonia.<ref>{{cite book | last = Pagès i Blanch | first = Pelai | chapter = Social revolution and collectivizations in the civil war | title = El Consell d'Economia de Catalunya, 1936–1939: revolution and counter-revolution in a collectivized economy | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cnUz95kYRw0C&q=Consell+Suprem+de+l'Economia+companys&pg=PA183 | year=2006 |page=11| publisher = L'Abadia de Montserrat | isbn = 848415775X}}</ref>
The [[Battle of Majorca]] revealed the inabilities of the CCMA, not only to organize itself, but even to learn of all the military operations that were being carried out from Catalonia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hernàndez|first=Francesc Xavier|title=Military History of Catalonia|volume=IV: Times of revolt|language=ca|date=2004|publisher=Rafael Dalmau|location=Barcelona|pages=293–295|isbn=8423206734}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Orwell|first=George|title=Homage to Catalonia|language=en|date=1937|publisher=Labutxaca|location=Barcelona|pages=52–53|isbn=978-8499301020}}</ref>   The Majorca operation was organized by the Generalitat (dominated by [[Republican Left of Catalonia|ERC]]) in collusion with the [[PSUC]] and in which the Barcelona Transport Union of the CNT also participated, on the initiative of the commander [[Alberto Bayo]]. The CCMA (which was supposed to command all military operations) learned of the operation when the troops were already embarking from the port of Barcelona.
=== Dissolution ===
The CNT's superior committees, which controlled the CCMA, decided in mid-August to abolish its operation and replace it with a stronger government in the Generalitat. The formal abolition of the CCMA was announced on 27 September, along with the dissolution of the control patrols, by [[Luis Companys]] himself.<ref name ="Preston">{{cite book|last=Preston |first=Paul |title=El holocausto español: Odio y exterminio en la Guerra Civil y después|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPV1johx8NMC&q=Joan+Garcia+i+Oliver+aguiluchos&pg=PP418 |language=es |publisher=Debate |year=2011 |isbn=978-8499920498}}</ref> Once the suppression of the CCMA was decided, the expansion of the Government of the Generalitat was negotiated to include all anti-fascist and trade union forces. The idea was to gain efficiency and avoid the duplication of powers. Finally, on 1 October 1936 the CCMA dissolved itself,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bonamusa |first1=Francesc |last2=Pagès i Blanch|first2=Pelai |chapter=La Guerra a Catalunya. 70 anys |title=La guerra civil als Països Catalans, 1936–1939 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0hoQMHmlB4C&q=Comit%C3%A8+Central+de+Mil%C3%ADcies+Antifeixistes+de+Catalunya&pg=PA87 |publisher=University of Valencia |date=2007 |pages=105 |isbn=978-8437067353|language=ca}}</ref> among other reasons, due to a certain stabilization of the situation at the institutional level and the need to reinforce the governing role of the Generalitat. Some representatives of the Committee were integrated into the Government of Catalonia. The dissolution of the Central Committee of Militias left the Catalan Defense Ministry with the theoretical control over the militias operating in Catalonia,<ref>[[Robert J. Alexander]] (1999 ). ''The Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War. Volume I ''. Janus Publishing Company Lim, p. 165</ref> although they continued to enjoy great autonomy and escape the control of the authorities. In turn, after the establishment of the new [[Spanish Republican Army]], on 28 October the Defense Ministry published a new decree proclaiming the militarization of the militias, which were absorbed by the regular republican army.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gabriel |first=Pere |chapter=La UGT, la milícia y el Ejército Popular |title=Historia de la UGT.: Un sindicalismo de guerra, 1936–1939 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsBHkJJvCYEC&q=decreto+militarizacion+milicias&pg=PA356 |language=es |publisher=Siglo XXI de España Editores |date=2011 |volume=4|pages=356–357 |isbn=978-8432313851 }}</ref> The authority over the control patrols passed into the hands of a new government body created specifically for that issue: the ''[[Junta de Seguretat Interior de Catalunya]]'', which was left in the hands of the [[CNT-FAI]] member [[Aurelio Fernández Sánchez]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pagès i Blanch |first=Pelai  |title=Cataluña en Guerra y en Revolución (1936–1939) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jsx4UoVsi30C&q=patrulla+control+Junta+de+Seguretat+Interior+de+Catalunya+Aurelio+Fern%C3%A1ndez&pg=PA177 |language=es |publisher=Editorial Renacimiento |year=2007 |page=177 |isbn=978-8496133921 }}</ref> Regionally, the [[People's Army of Catalonia]] was set up to succeed the Catalan militias.<ref>{{cite book|last = de Quesada|first = Alejandro|title= The Spanish Civil War 1936–39 (2). Republican Forces|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcenCwAAQBAJ|date= 2015|publisher= [[Osprey Publishing]]|location= [[Oxford]]|isbn= 978-1782007852|page=23}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Regional Defence Council of Aragon]]
* [[Popular Executive Committee of Valencia]]
* [[Control Patrols]]
* [[Confederal militias]]
* [[Revolutionary Catalonia]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book | last = Pozo González | first = Josep Antoni | title = Legal power and real power in revolutionary Catalonia of 1936.|chapter=The Government of the Generalitat before the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias and the various local revolutionary powers | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dBLZZAeAIxQC | publisher = Espuela de Plata|date = 2012 | language = es | isbn = 9788415177708}}
* {{cite book | title = Public order and violence in Catalonia (1936–1937) | publisher = Dau | date = 2011 | isbn = 9788493662554}}
== External links ==
* [[Juan García Oliver]], [https://archive.today/20120628233842/http://www.negations.net/los-organismos-revolucionario-el-comite-central-de-las-milicias-antifascistas-de-cataluna/ '' Los Organismos Revolutionaries: The Central Committee of the Antifascist Militias of Catalonia '']
* [http://www.nodo50.org/casc/mota/Els-canvis-en-l-administracio-municipal#Cmaf The Committee of Antifascist Militias of Sant Cugat del Vallès]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Spanish Revolution of 1936]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction)]]
[[Category:History of Catalonia]]