[Letter from Comrade Andrade, Member of C. C. of Spanish "Communist Left"]

n.p. [1934]. This appears to be a lengthy excerpt (three typed pages) from a letter by the Spanish communist, journalist, politician and editor, Juan Andrade Rodrigeuz (1898-1981) to an American (?) comrade named Gonzalez following the Revolution of 1934. The letter is titled, “Letter from Comrade Andrade, Member of C. C. of Spanish ‘Communist Left’”, has ellipses at the beginning and end, and is not signed by Andrade and was likely retyped for publication in a communist or socialist publication. An insightful primary source document on the status of the Spanish left following the Revolution of 1934.

The Revolution was a series of uprising that occurred between October 5-19, 1934 - primarily in Catalonia and Asturias - by leftists in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), General Union of Workers (UGT), and the National Confederation of Workers (CNT) who were incensed by the inclusion of Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) ministers in the new right-wing government that was voted into power in 1933. Many trade unions called for a general strike, and in Austurias militant workers took over the town and executed three dozen priests from a local Catholic Brothers’ school. The uprising spread to Catalonia and the Spanish government enacted drastic measures to suppress it, which it did by October 19th. Approximately 2,000 workers, civilians, soldiers and priests were killed during the conflict and many leftists were imprisoned.

Andrade begins his letter by discussing the circulation of articles and newspapers into prisons holding socialist and communist comrades and into the U.S. He then describes trying to make contact with the revolutionaries in Austurias, the escape of Loredo Aparicio to Paris, and the execution of Honorio Fernandez who left a widow and seven children. He then provides an update on the status of his own group, the Communist Left of Spain (Izquierda Comunista de España), a Trotskyist group led by Andreu Nin (later executed by the NKVD during the Spanish Civil War):

“We can now say that our organization is again on tiptoes. Relations have been established with all of the group and we are preparing to publish our illegal organ, which would have appeared already were not the two print shops that we intended using for this purpose discovered by the police. Everything indicates that we are developing a great deal especially at the expense of the Socialist Youth.”

Andrade discusses the Communist Left’s ideological opposition to entry into the Socialist Party (“political suicide”) and the betrayal by Largo Cabellero, a militant trade unionist (soon after, Prime Minister and Minister of War), who advocated establishing broad alliances among the left. Interestingly, Andrade concludes the letter with a statement of optimism:

“But we can say however, is [sic] that fascism in Spain is still a distant danger. It is unable to get a mass base. The radicalization of the workers continues at an accelerated pace. All of the parties continue functioning secretly.”

The Spanish Civil War began 18 months later with Adrade an executive committee member of the newly formed POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), a fusion of the Communist Left of Spain and the Workers’ and Peasants Bloc. He edited Editorial Marxista until his arrest and imprisonment in 1938. He was exiled to France in 1940 where he was arrested by the Vichy government and accused of supporting the French resistance to Nazism. In August 1944, he was freed by a French Resistance commando team led by the leader of the POUM, Wilebaldo Solano, and joined the Toulouse POUM. He returned to Spain in 1975 where he died in 1981.

Typed on three onion skin leaves, some chipping along the edges and paper clip marks along the left edge. A name (?) has been crossed out in blue colored pencil and an indecipherable word appears beneath it. Item #12634

Price: $350.00