SABATE -
GUERILLA EXTRAORDINARY -
ANTONIO TELLEZ
When the dream is over, what to do? When the music's over, do you
turn off the light? When the rave has ended, must the dancing stop?
When the war is lost, do you give up the battle?
Following the victory of Franco in the Spanish Civil War a wave of
repression was unleashed against the Republicans; with anarchists,
socialists and communists alike being rounded up and thrown into
jails or simply handed the death penalty, put up against the wall and
shot. Neighbouring countries (not least of all, England) turned a
blind eye and continued to declare that it was an internal affair to
Spain even as thousands of refugees fled into France to escape the
persecution.
Whilst some chose to remain to act clandestinely against the Franco
regime, a large number of the anarchist trade union, CNT, went into
exile also as Spain buckled beneath the Fascists. For many, the fight
had been knocked out of them by the experience of the Civil War and
all they wanted was to be left in peace not only by Franco and his
Fascist dictatorship but by former Republican comrades. An exception
to this, however, was people like Francisco Sabate.
Antonio Tellez's book, Sabate Guerilla Extraordinary, as
translated by Stewart Christie tells the tale of Sabate's life and
ultimate demise under a hail of bullets. It's the story of an
anarchist fighter who refused to capitulate to the forces of
oppression; who chose not to run away from his enemies but rather to
run at them – always suitably armed it should be said, with a
Thompson submachine gun, a pistol and a couple of hand grenades.
In Spain to this day, the exploits of Sabate are the stuff of legend
and his name has come to symbolise unrelenting resistance and never
giving up. La lotta continua, as they say. And talking of the stuff
of legend, as the reporter in John Ford's western The Man Who Shot
Liberty Valance said: 'When the legend becomes fact, print the
legend', and this is exactly for good or bad what Antonio
Tellez's book does.
It's a double-edged sword, however. On the one hand, much respect is
given to Sabate who was undoubtedly a very brave man but at the same
time there's not a shred of criticism offered about anything Sabate
ever did and unfortunately some of his exploits deserve very much to
be criticised, particularly regarding the bank robberies he committed
and the terror inflicted upon innocent bystanders during these
heists.
There is also the question of the knock-on effect of some of his
actions and the way that all they did was to prompt the further
ramping up of oppression by Franco and the harassing and jailing of
known anarchist sympathisers within Spain.
Antonio Tellez's book is incredibly well researched though there's
obviously a large amount of fiction in with it also, as well as
stretches of the imagination accentuated in such lines as 'It
would be no exaggeration to say that between 1945 and 1946 Sabate got
to know almost every tree in every village and mountain in
Catalonia.' No exaggeration? Really?
More pertinent than this, however, the two main points the book
raises are interesting ones. Firstly, the question of what to do when
the dream is over? In Sabate's case, of course, meaning the dream of
freedom. Secondly, the question of truth over legend or legend over
truth?
Sabate Guerilla Extraordinary, for all its enthusiasm and
cheer-leading, unfortunately fails to really answer either of them...
John Serpico
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