CNT Militiawoman - Barcelona 1936 - "Stop!"

There are occasions when it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all.
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

The Spanish Civil War was the most important conflict of the so-called Interwar Period. The years between both World Wars were times of political turbulence that saw the rise of political movements that altered radically the rules of the game, Fascism, Communism and Anarchism being the most important of them. Their nature implied that sooner or later they were going to clash and Spain was one of the first scenarios where that happened, in a devastating conflict that served as a prelude to the Second World War.

On July 18th, 1936, sectors of the military led by General Francisco Franco, supported by the traditional oligarchies that were wary of the recent progressive reforms, staged a coup against the legitimate government of the Second Spanish Republic. Even if it succeeded in many places, it failed in most of the major cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Málaga or Valencia along other big areas. That stalemate led to a vicious civil war that lasted 3 years and caused numerous casualties and lots of suffering among the population. The final victory of the military rebellion imposed a 36 years fascist dictatorship on the country, which only ended after the death of Franco in 1975. Still today, the Civil War is a delicate matter in Spain.

The next day after the coup, the Communist politician Dolores Ibárruri La Pasionaria gave a speech to encourage the resistance against the fascist rebellion in which she coined the famous expression ¡No pasarán! that since then has served as an anti-fascist rally cry.

The civil population in the still loyal areas rallied and formed defence militias, along with the response of the international leftwing parties and unions that took shape in the formation of the International Brigades. The Confederation of unions CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) was very important in the organization and training of such militias, in which the traditional values of class, religion, and gender roles were simply overrun by a quite utopian equalized comradeship centred around the values of Anarchism and Communism.

Our bust offers an insight on that first year of the war, were these idealistic movements had created an innovative social-political experiment in cities like Barcelona. The writer George Orwell, member of the International Brigades and witness of those days in the city was fascinated by the energy and fighting spirit of the militiawomen, the libertarias, which temporarily free from the traditional conventions, took arms and marched along their male camaradas to defend their ideas.