Militias

A militia is an army or other fighting unit that is composed of non-professional fighters.

A militia is a troops or military people , especially one that has a lower degree of militarization in the Army.

A militia is an army or other fighting unit that is composed of non-professional fighters, citizens of a nation or subjects of a state or government who can be called upon to enter a combat situation, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel, or historically, members of the warrior nobility class . Unable to hold their own against properly-trained and -equipped professional forces, it is common for militias to engage in guerrilla warfare or defense instead of being used in open attacks and offensive actions.

The confederal militias were organized by CNT-FAI. They had an important role in the Spanish Civil War.

They organized under assemblyist principles and the decisions were made through directly democracy, thus avoiding hierarchies of command.

The simplest combat unit were twenty people who formed a group. Four groups formed a century and five of it formed a column.

There were some militias. One was the popular militias. These were organized by the anarcho-syndicalists, one commanded by Durriti and another by Antoni Ortiz who left to the Aragon front. They were followed by the POUM commanded by Josep Rovira and Jordi Arquer and the PSUC and later the column Macià-Companys.

Regiment Pirinenc Número 1 de Catalunya was the military unit output of Militias Alpines. They offered to the Committee of Antifascist Militias to cover the front north of Aragon. The unit remained under the direct authority of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Later they were joined to the Exèrcit Popular.

The Partit Obrer d’Unificació Marxista (POUM) was a Marxist scope of Spain, with major presence in Catalonia and Valencia, founded in 1935. Auto defined as a revolutionary Marxist aggrupation developed a revolutionary thought and action own self, along the lines of democratic socialism internationalist opposition to Stalinism, which, because at the time prior to the cold War, led to the banning, secrecy and persecution.  The POUM was founded with the merger of the Bloc Obrer i Camperol (BOC) i l’Esquerra Comunista d’Espanya (ICE).

In the months prior to the start of the civil war, the call to create a "great revolutionary party" remained the centerpiece speech of the POUM. To achieve its goal of becoming a national party, it was essential that the POUM attracted into its ranks and unify the left PSOE directly with her. Especially as both BOC ICE had hope it would be possible to gain some sector of the Socialist Youth (FJS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaD0dgg-fE0

Marçal Escolà                                               2n Batx B

Adrià Esteve

Peter Julca                                    

Picasso's Guernica.

On 26 April 1937 the Basque town of Guernica was the subject of a cruel bombing by German aircraft, which produced numerous innocent victims and material damage. The fact is part of the development of the Spanish Civil War started on 18 July 1936, and facing the government of the Republic, democratically elected, with Franco's rebel army, rebelled against the legitimate power. While Soviet Stalin helped the Republic, Franco got abundant human and material assistance from Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. Aviation latter took the initiative to bomb Guernica on their own, without asking for any permission or notify Franco. The Junker German Luftwaffe planes conducted a carpet-bombing against unprotected villa. The reason for the attack could not be the existence of weapons depots or barracks or troops, or strategic objectives or that the villa was a communications hub. Guernica was devoid of any military or strategic importance.

The shameful reason was tested on real fire new aircraft and weapons before the imminence of World War II. To explain the inexplicable, Franco in a delirious statement blamed the attack on the Republicans and would have gotten an excuse to bombard a city near you, to accuse the Nationalists of Franco. Needless to say, this argument was not taken into consideration by anyone.

The horror caused this episode was very high in international public opinion, not only by the senseless slaughter of innocents, but above all, for being the first time in history that was attacked from the air a city. Soon, English, German and Japanese cities would be wiped off the map with that method.

This type of disaster massacring millions of innocent people and trigger the death toll to outrageous extremes.

THE REPRESENTATION.

Contemplating the work from right to left you can see a desperate woman, screaming in pain inside a house that collapses and burns. On his left two women, the top looks out a window and carrying in his hand a lamp, the light of truth, which illuminates the ravages of barbarism.

In the center of the composition is the horse, twisted on itself and showing a spur; his mouth open and tongue out. Just above is the sun, oval shaped with a bulb at its center as if the smoke bombing had contracted the sun king and the only source of illumination had to be artificial. A to the left a bird flaps its wings and cries to heaven as if vainly had asked an explanation for what happened. Under the horse's feet lies the dead warrior, his hand still holding a broken sword.

On the far left, a bull contemplates surprised and puzzled scene and beside a terrible vision: a mother overwhelmed by grief carries in her arms the little body of her dead son while looking at broken by grief and sorrow sky.

Picasso renunciation of color to accentuate the drama and uses only shades of gray, black and white, is what art is called grisaille.

It is a "sound" box, characters shout, gesticulate and die under the bombs blindly just yet. The denunciation of violence is here timeless and has always been used as a song against the senselessness of destruction and death in any war.

Picasso painted four women in desperate attitudes, are the defenseless civilian population, as the military fallen in the defense and also animals. Una feature that the author uses frequently is the simultaneous representation of several planes on the faces, as if they were seeing both front and profile, hence different from the other eye, producing a global vision.

Technically Guernica has cubist features (reduce natural forms to geometric forms) but also works the expressionism and the extreme gestures of the characters and great purity and definition of lines reminiscent of neoclassicism.

THE MEANING.

Picasso's visit to Spain just before the civil war it is a great curiosity about bullfighting. All its elements are on the table: the bull symbol of strength, brutality and darkness, the horse innocence and indirect victims of all tragedies, the enclosed space and the sword. Bullfighting symbols show here the essence of Spain and suffering.

The light of the lamp illuminates the central scene triangular and very well not know if we're in an indoor or outdoor scene, since the spatial uncertainty does not give us any clue about it. The painting is the most elaborate and thought of Picasso, made 45 sketches or previous studies, which photographed and expanded in order to compose the set of a coherent and expressive way.

THE HISTORY OF ART

After the Spanish Civil War with the defeat of the Republican government's Guernica did not return to Spain, and in fascist hands, but he traveled to M.O.M.A. (Museum of Modern Art) in New York. Picasso express wish, the picture could not return to Spain until our country was a democracy.

With the death of Franco in 1975, Spain recovered the democracy and the picture comes from New York, being exposed in the Cason del Buen Retiro (depending on the Prado for collections of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). Awakens a huge buzz and thousands of people make long lines to contemplate, thus acquiring the character of enduring symbol that characterizes it.

It’s location was recently changed to Centro Reina Sofia National Museum of Art, also in Madrid, where it is currently on display. A few years ago it was requested by the Basque government to expose the Guggenheim arguing that it was a Basque painting but his delicate state of conservation advised against the move. provoked great controversy and Arzallus went on to say "in Madrid have the art and we just bombs". The truth is that the argument that represents a Basque village is not enough to go there. The commission did the government of Madrid, Picasso made a written request to see the Guernica hung in the Prado, the picture is allusive to the war in Spain and, like any work of art is universal, alien to nationalism and sectarianism.

THE AUTHOR

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881, very young moved to Barcelona and finally settled in Paris.

It went through several stylistic stages as the blue period, pink, cubist and surrealism. He was a true genius of universal painting and a great innovator, constantly delving into new fields of expression artística. He died on the April 8 of 1973.

Els fets de Maig del 1937.  The events of May 1937

Since the military rebellion fail in July 1936 Barcelona and Catalonia had been under the control of the workers’ militias, especially the anarchist union CNT-FAI, but also the socialist UGT. After, the anarchist leaders met with Companys (president of Catalonia) and because of the meeting, the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia was created.

The CNT-FAI divided militia brigades organized in columns, as Durruti Column. The other organizations (UGT, PSUC ERC, PSOE, PCE, POUM…) they all went to fight to the front. The militias often paid more attention to the guidelines of their own parties and trade unions than to the military commanders of the Republic.

Successive defeats on the Republican side throughout 1936 and the first half of 1937 suggested the necessity for a radical change in the Republican armed forces to win the war.

In addition, the only European power that helped (although very little) to the republican government was the Soviet Union, that caused a pro-Soviet movement within the republican government, which culminated with the appointment of Juan Negrin as the president of the Spanish Republic.

This fact, and the repeal of the militia system to replace it with a regular republican army, were the cause of outrage for the sectors anarchists, libertarians and Trotskyites, especially the CNT-FAI and POUM (POUM) of Trotskyist tendency.

The CNT-FAI and POUM felt persecuted and despised within the republican system. Anarchists (theoretically apolitical) defended the Republic from the beginning to fight against fascism and liberate the working class through revolutionary tactics.

However, the government sector, consisting of several socialist parties, communists and ERC wanted to postpone the social revolution after the war, "first win the war, then we will make the revolution."

This accumulated tension brooked out in May 1937 in Barcelona’s streets. On the 4rt of May, armed men of the Government and the republican Government, supervised by members of the PSUC, occupied the phone’s building of Barcelona, located between Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas (building that still exists today). The CNT-FAI responded identically to the aggression government is Adir, with the use of violence.

Telefonica was then a vital and strategic military orders and directives to inform executives. That controlled communications long monopolized power.
The government response was immediate. Republican Armed Forces and the Mossos d'Esquadra dug into Catalonia Square and University Square, while the militants were anarchists and libertarians to become strong in the Raval and the Gothic Quarter. 

                                                     La Rambla during the events of May 1937

The streets of Barcelona broke a genuine civil war within the civil war, a series of clashes between members of the POUM and the CNT against the forces of the government of the Republic.

The confrontation lasted a few days, until May 7, but the scar left was enormous persecution of members of the CNT and the POUM, proclamation of a state of emergency, suppression of freedom of expression and training a new government even more prone to the directives of Moscow.

But above all, think that the facts of May stage the date of caducity of the democratic project republican to the peninsula, the maximum expression of the inability to share a political and social project based in the understanding and the mutual respect.

For last, it is necessary to highlight that the big benefited of the internal disputes of the Republic was not any other that the side francist. I think that Franco did not win the war to the fields of battle, if no that it was the Republic what lost the war, especially because of the collapse of a model of democratic management and the self-evident inability to do common front against the military and the fascist threat.

Posters of the Spanish Civil War

Introduction:

During the Spanish Civil War there was a huge spread of the ideology of both sides through posters. They showed their political goals, problems, hatreds, aspirations and beliefs. Many artists at this time put their inventiveness and talent to the side and even if they wanted or not, they had to contribute to making propaganda for either side. Not only the government communicated this way with the people (largely illiterate), also trade unions and various political organizations took advantage of this medium to launch their ideas and slogans. All this led to an explosion of creativity and art.

The Spanish Civil War collects propaganda  from World War I and the Russian Revolution and alongside these events influence the propaganda of World War II. Not only these posters were used as a diffusing element of propaganda, we also had the cinema, the radio, the Great Parade and Commemorative events , print media , etc. There was a clear differentiation between propaganda from the National side and propaganda from the Republican side.

Republican side:

The Republican faction (Spanish: Bando republicano), also known as the Loyalist faction, was the side in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939 that supported the established government of the Second Spanish Republic against the Nationalist or rebel faction of the military rebellion. The name Republicans (republicanos), was mainly used by its members and supporters, while its opponents used the term Rojos (reds) to refer to this faction. Liberals, Socialists, Communists and Anarchists supported the Republicans.

Columna de Hierro. Campesino, la revolución te dará la tierra.

[Land worker, the revolution will give you the land]. Signed: Bauset. A.I.D.C. Gráficas Valencia, Intervenido, U.G.T. C.N.T. Lithograph, 4 colors; 163 x 117 cm.

In this poster, a farm laborer-turned-militiaman has impaled a monstrous representation of capitalism on his rifle and is tossing the man over his shoulder like a bale of hay. The laborer, depicted in red tones to indicate his revolutionary character, stands astride an outline of the Iberian Peninsula, thus adding visual support to the caption, which reads: "Land worker! The revolution will give you the land."At the beginning of the war, the left-wing trade unions of both Barcelona and Valencia, among which the anarcho-syndicalist CNT was the most prominent, defeated the local military insurrectionists and took de facto control of their cities. At this juncture, many anarchist groups began to collectivize industry and agriculture, believing that the long-awaited revolution was upon them. Anarchist propaganda emphasizes the revolutionary nature of the struggle. This poster, commissioned by the radical anarchist militia unitColumna de Hierro (Iron Column), makes no reference to either war or fascism, but addresses itself directly to the overthrow of capitalism, the Anarchists' ultimate aim. The desire for revolution was not, however, shared by the Anarchists' partners in the Republican government, the Socialists and Communists, who wanted to present a moderate face to the Western democracies in a bid to gain their support. For this reason, communist and socialist propaganda stresses the need to defeat fascism, the importance of uniting together to fight the war, not to stage a revolution.This poster was produced under the aegis of the two trade unions, the socialist-revolutionary UGT and the anarcho-syndicalist CNT. These two bodies took over Valencian industry in the first days of the Civil War and continued to control it until some time after the Republican government transferred from Madrid to Valencia in October 1936. We can thus date this poster to the first months of the conflict. The letters AIDC are the acronym of the anti-fascist intellectual organization, the Asociación Intelectual para la Defensa de la Cultura, founded in Barcelona in January 1936. Of the artist Bauset little is known, other than the fact that he studied under the celebrated Valencian photomontage artist, Josep Renau, before the war.

¡Obrero! Ingresando en la columna de hierro fortaleces la revolución

[Worker! Your entry into the Iron Column strengthens the revolution].C.N.T., F.A.I. Signed: Bauset.. A.I.D.C. Gráficas Valencia, Intervenido, C.N.T. U.G.T. Lithograph, 4 colors; 164 x 115 cm.

In the poster, a Columna de Hierro (Iron Column) militiaman, gesturing portentously like a neo-classical orator, is calling on his fellow Anarchists to come and join the Column. "Worker!" he shouts, "Your entry into the Iron Column strengthens the revolution." The Iron Column was a Valencian militia unit that fought in the Teruel offensive during the first seven months of the conflict. In the first days of the war, the Column opened up the San Miguel de los Reyes Penitentiary and recruited several hundred of its inmates into its ranks. While a number of these recruits were Anarchists, many more feigned interest in the anarchist cause for the chance to get their hands on a rifle and indulge in some officially- countenanced aggression. In the weeks following, the Column gained a reputation as undisciplined and unpredictable, both at the front and away from it.

Fiercely revolutionary, the Iron Column was against maintaining anything but the most tenuous ties to the moderate Popular Front government. Socialist prime minister Francisco Largo Caballero's call for militia reforms in September 1936 particularly infuriated the Column, which responded to the demand with mass desertions and insurrection. One historian recounts that in October 1936, "the Column abandoned the front ... and went on an expedition to Valencia spreading panic in its path. Its goal was to 'cleanse the rear of all parasitic elements that endangered the interests of the revolution.' In Valencia, it stormed hotels and restaurants, terrifying the city." At the conference of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union CNT in November 1936, an unyielding Iron Column representative told the gathering: "We accept nothing that runs counter to our anarchist ideas, ideas that must become a reality because you cannot preach one thing and practice another." Nevertheless, without the support of the CNT, whose leaders had backed the militia reforms, the Iron Column was unable to resist militarization for long. In the spring of 1937, the Column was dismantled and its members incorporated into the Eighty-Third Brigade of the Popular Army.

C.N.T., A.I.T., F.A.I.: Contra el matonismo militar, la fuerza invencible del Proletariado

[Against the military bullying, the invincible force of the Proletariat].Signed: Muro.. Confederación Regional de Levante. Lit. García Cantos. Valencia Controlado, C.N.T. U.G.T. Lithograph, 6 colors; 100 x 70 cm.

In the first days of the war, when less than thirty percent of the regular army remained loyal to the government, popular militias were formed by the left-wing political parties and unions in cities throughout Spain to defend the Republic. This poster depicts an anarchist militiaman wresting a bloodstained dagger-a symbol of treachery-from his diminutive Nationalist opponent. The caricatured enemy wears an antiquated uniform, a reflection of the old-fashioned system he represents. In contrast, the anarchist militiaman wears no uniform save for a red cap and bandanna, symbols of his solidarity with the revolutionary cause.

Although the militias fared well in streetfighting forays against the military rebels at the beginning of the war, their lack of experience and discipline placed them at a distinct disadvantage when they met Franco's troops under normal combat conditions. For this reason, in September 1936, the socialist prime minister Francisco Largo Caballero promulgated measures providing for the militarization of the militias and the creation of a Popular Army. While moderate anarchist leaders saw the necessity of these measures, more radical libertarians regarded any concessions to authoritarianism as a serious breech of the movement's central tenets. Nevertheless, threatened with having their arms, supplies and pay withheld by the central government, even the most militant anarchist militias eventually capitulated. By June 1937, all the Republican militias had been militarized or incorporated into the Popular Army.

The three groups mentioned in the caption, the CNT, AIT, and FAI, were all prominent organizations within the anarchist movement. The CNT was the anarchist trade union; the FAI was its political wing. AIT was the Anarchists' international umbrella group. The red and black letters evoke the red and black bands of the anarchist flag.

The poster was produced in the first months of the war by a committee of two trade unions, the anarchist CNT and the socialist UGT. These unions controlled the production process in Valencia until the Republican government transferred to the city in November 1936; thereafter the government's agencies began gradually to take charge of the situation. The artist who designed this poster, Muro, is not documented other than in this instance.

C.N.T., Comité Nacional A.I.T., Oficina de Información y Propaganda. Fascismo [CNT, National Committee AIT, Office of Information and Propaganda. Fascism].Signed: Monleón. Oficina de Información y Propaganda. Gráficas Valencia, Intervenido, U.G.T. C.N.T. Lithograph, 3 colors; 100 x 69 cm.

Here the Spanish conflict is presented as the struggle of man against beast. The revolutionary--red--hued, naked, and muscular--wields his hammer against a serpent coiled about his body; the man's nakedness reflects the purity of his cause, in contrast to the insidiousness of the coiled snake of fascism. The caption announces that the poster was produced by the anarcho-syndicalist trade union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in conjunction with the international anarchist organization Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (AIT). The presence of the AIT initials on anarchist propaganda gives the illusion that the domestic movement was backed by an international organization similar to the large and vigorous Communist International, or Comintern. In fact, by 1936 the AIT listed fewer than 100,000 members and was able to provide relatively little aid to Republican Spain. As the war progressed, the Communists, as administrators of Russian arms and supplies, progressively dominated the Republican camp. Lacking this international clout, the Spanish Anarchists, despite being numerically much larger than the Communists at the beginning of the war, found themselves increasingly marginalized and powerless. The artist Manuel Monleón (1904-1976), like his more famous contemporary, Josep Renau, was a graphic designer who specialized in photomontage techniques. He was committed to left-wing politics and in 1933 joined the radical artists' group, theUnión de Escritores y Artistas Proletarios, formed by Renau. In the same year his work was included in an exhibition of revolutionary art in Madrid. Monleón contributed to three left-wing Valencian publications before the war: Nueva Cultura, Orto, and Estudios; the latter was an anarchist-backed magazine which advocated free-love, and whose covers were often graced by Monleón's pictures of voluptuous, naked females. Between 1936 and 1939, Monleón produced propaganda posters for the CNT and the Partido Sindicalista. At the war's end, he was imprisoned for four years, after which he took exile in South America, first in Colombia and later in Venezuela. He returned to Spain in 1962. The poster was produced under the aegis of the UGT and CNT control committee, which controlled the production process in Valencia until the Republican government transferred there from Madrid in November 1936. We can thus date the poster to the first months of the Civil War. C.N.T. U.G.T. Campos y fábricas, para los sindicatos! [Fields and Factories for the Syndicates!]. Gallo. Información y Propaganda del Comité Nacional de la C.N.T., Lit.: J. Aviño. Valencia, Intervenido U.G.T., C.N.T. Lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 70 cm. The flags of the CNT and UGT at the center of this poster are tied in a knot to symbolize the commitment of the two organizations to work together to provide for workers. In the background are representations of fields and factories over which the members of the CNT and UGT are promised control. On November 4, 1936, the socialist prime minister Francisco Largo Caballero invited leaders of the anarchist CNT to join his cabinet, and when they accepted, a new age of cooperation between long-time enemies began. This poster, issued by the National Committee of the CNT in Valencia, must date from shortly after the Socialists extended their invitation to the CNT to join the government. The UGT's use of red for its flag stemmed from its early affiliation with the Soviet Union and its adherence to the First and Second Communist Internationals. For Anarchists, Socialists, and Communists, red has traditionally symbolized the blood of the proletariat. The Anarchists began using a solid black flag around 1870. It represented the workers' misery as well as an expression of their anger and bitterness. Anarchists in Spain used both black and red flags, but the single flag on which black and red are separated diagonally, as in this poster, was adopted when the CNT was founded in 1910. Outright hostility characterized the relationship between the CNT and the UGT prior to their attempts to work together during the Spanish Civil War. As the union of the anarcho-syndicalist movement, the CNT discarded notions of class and class struggle, and sought the complete destruction of the existing political and social order in favor of a libertarian-communism directed by their revolutionary syndicates. The UGT, on the other hand, sought the fulfillment of the Marxist dialectic in which the proletariat overcomes the bourgeoisie and the elites to control all factors of production. Perhaps because of this fundamental difference of philosophy, the two unions had been in constant competition for members and authority since 1910, when the CNT was founded. Both unions flourished during the Second Republic to the point that UGT membership rose to 1.25 million in 1934, while the CNT's membership stood at over 1.5 million. The intense fighting between the UGT and the CNT was constant during the Second Republic and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Often the battles between the unions stemmed from the refusal of one to support a general strike declared by the other. It was not uncommon for CNT and UGT members to gun each other down in the streets or to accuse each other of being tools of Franco or Stalin. However, November 1936 ushered in a new attempt by the leadership of the unions to cooperate with each other. Largo Caballero, who was secretary general of the UGT as well as prime minister, took the opportunity of directing the Republican government in the fall of 1936 to extend an olive branch to the anarcho-syndicalists. The cooperation between the CNT and the UGT in Valencia, where this poster was issued, was relatively peaceful. Numerous agrarian and industrial enterprises were jointly collectivized by the two unions. As the war progressed, the CNT and UGT were forced to rely upon each other in repulsing not only the Nationalist troops, but also the Spanish Communist Party, which sought to break down the communes. Nothing is known of Gallo, the artist who signed this poster. La UGT Columna y base de la victoria [The UGT Pillar and Foundation of Victory]. Signed: Canet. Gráficas Valencia, Intervenido, U.G.T. C.N.T. Lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 71 cm. In this poster, at least twenty militiamen dressed in the typical blue boiler suits of the popular militia jump out from behind giant red letters that spell out the acronym "UGT." The large red letters suggest the solid foundation and backing that is provided to workers by the socialist trade union UGT. In this image, the militiamen charge their enemies with determination. By cutting off militia members at the left and right margins of the poster, the artist emphasizes the strength of these forces, effectively suggesting that there were more militia members ahead of the group pictured here, with more to follow. This poster was released in Valencia some time before January 22, 1937, when the image was reproduced in the UGT newspaperClaridad. The poster was illustrated by Canet, an artist who worked primarily for the UGT, but who also designed posters for different republican agencies. On September 4, 1936, Francisco Largo Caballero was charged by the president of the Republic, Manuel Azaña, to form a government representative of the forces most active in the fight against the Nationalists. His cabinet included three Left Republican members of the party Izquierda Republicana, two Communists, and five Socialists. Two months later, Largo Caballero reshuffled his cabinet to bring in the anarcho-syndicalist trade union CNT despite the fact that the CNT was the UGT's biggest rival. Much of the propaganda issued during the Largo Caballero government exalted the UGT as the foundation of unity and attempted to assert the UGT's vision of revolution and military strategy above all others. However, not all of the left looked to the UGT and Largo Caballero for guidance. In fact, the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) expected to direct military strategy and to have a bigger input in government as they were the only party with a direct relationship to the Soviet Union. Leading Communists, as well as the military advisors Stalin sent to Spain, frequently undermined Largo Caballero's autonomy. The battle to control the Republican zone was a battle of wills: just as the Communists attempted to ensure that they lead, so too did Largo Caballero, the Left Republicans, and the CNT. This poster is but one example of an organization in power touting itself as the key to victory. U.G.T. Unificación [U.G.T. Unification]. Signed: Canet.. Gráficas Valencia, Intervenido, U.G.T., C.N.T. Lithograph, 7 colors; 115 x 85 cm. In this poster, a member of the UGT cheers as he extends the flags of the major political and labor organizations in the Republican zone. He holds up the red and gold striped flag of Catalonia; the Republican tri-color; the red and black flags of the anarchist CNT and FAI; and the red banners of the PCE (Spanish Communist Party) and of his own union. The figure wears a khaki UGT cap with a red five-pointed star above his forehead. The star had become an institutionalized symbol of the Soviet Union in its 1924 constitution, but many revolutionary parties and organizations in Spain used the symbol regardless of whether or not they adhered to the Third International. The poster was released in Valencia, probably in late 1936 or early 1937, when Francisco Largo Caballero became prime minister of the Republican government. The image was designed by Canet, an artist who worked primarily for the UGT, but who also created posters for other organizations. Canet's militiaman holds six different flags and their staffs in his gigantic hand. Clearly the man represents the UGT, and the poster suggests that the union can and should lead all the forces in the Republican zone. On November 3, 1936, only two months into his first government, Largo Caballero reshuffled his cabinet in the spirit of unification. At that time, Largo offered leaders of the CNT (long-time rivals of the UGT) four cabinet positions: the Ministries of Justice, Commerce, Health & Public Assistance, and Industry. It was not only the first time that the CNT had participated in an official government, but it marked one of the first times since October 1934 when the unions tried to put their differences aside and work together. It is this spirit of cooperation and unification that is glorified in the poster. Unfortunately for the Republic, this unification did not last. While the CNT and UGT grew increasingly closer and successfully ran many jointly collectivized enterprises, the PCE and its allies grew increasingly belligerent to the revolutionary left. Under the guise of "winning the war," the PCE sought to curb Largo Caballero's revolutionary tendencies and to discredit the anarchist and socialist collectives. With the aid of the Soviet police, the PCE created a civil war within the Civil War in the Spring of 1937, when a smear campaign against Anarchists and the anti-Stalinist Communists led to violent confrontations in Barcelona. Izquierda Republicana. Defiende la pequeña propiedad. Pena de muerte al ladrón [Republican Left. Defend small private property. Death penalty to the thief].Signed: V. Petit Alandi. Junta Municipal. Delegación de Propaganda. Valencia. Lit.: S. Dura, Socializada U.G.T. C.N.T. Valencia. Lithograph, many colors; 160 x 108 cm. S. Dura, a Valencian lithography firm jointly collectivized by the CNT and the UGT, published this poster for Izquierda Republicana(the Republican Left Party), probably in the summer of 1937. At that time, the Republican Left Party, led by Manuel Azaña, had become frustrated with the problem of theft and joined others in the loyalist zone in calling for more severe punishments against those who stole foodstuffs or disrupted Republican trade. This scene portrays a Valencian peasant or sharecropper holding a Republican flag and sounding an alarm with a giant conch. The figure is essentially a vigilant sentry who has spotted some undesirables (lower right) stealing armfuls of grain. Upon sounding his alarm, other peasants or small landowners (lower left) react violently as they impose their vigilante justice on the thieves. The homes in the far center-left background of the poster are barracas, rustic adobe lodgings common in the province of Valencia. The political party Izquierda Republicana was formed in the fall of 1934, when Manuel Azaña fused his Acción Republicana with other moderate parties to create a large coalition of like-minded Republicans seeking to regain political power. Izquierda Republicana was the driving force behind the Popular Front coalition, which included the Socialists and Communists, united to curb the advance of the "fascist" right. The Popular Front was able to slimly defeat the conservative coalition in the national elections of 1936, and Izquierda Republicana secured 106 seats in Parliament, second only to the Socialists. Theft of agrarian products, among other valuables, was a significant problem at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and the problem became worse as the war progressed. The food scarcity was exacerbated by constant warfare, and the rapid advances of the Nationalist army forced soldiers and refugees to help themselves to farmland foods. One Valencian collective sent the following complaint to the Minister of Agriculture on November 29, 1937: [Soldiers and refugees] take whatever they want, break branches, strip our trees, break into and disturb our plantations, etc. Our nut crop has disappeared at their hands, the same is true of our pomegranates. They take vegetables, olives, yank out potatoes from the earth without letting them mature to a proper age and weight, and the oranges have disappeared from trees. We have an anguishing, exhausting, and frustrating situation on our hands. Posters like this were one way that the Republican left tried to deal with the thefts. El Presidente de la República ha dicho... [The President of the Republic has said...]. . Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid. Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa. Rivadeneyra, S.A. Madrid. Lithograph, 2 colors; 101 x 70 cm. This poster reproduces an excerpt taken from a speech made in Valencia by the president of the Republic, Manuel Azaña, on January 21, 1937. Behind the text is a stylized silhouette of the President. Azaña touched upon numerous issues in this speech, including the resilience of the Madrid residents who fought off Franco's troops, and the fact that Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy aided Franco. Furthermore, he made a strong appeal to all Spaniards to recognize the Republic as the sole and legitimate authority of the land. While the President encouraged Spaniards to continue the fight against Franco and his allies, he came across as forlorn, as the only possible victory was a Pyrrhic one. The poster reads as follows: Because it is no longer a matter of danger to the Republic, it is no longer simply a civil war between Spaniards; let us say it clearly: we are experiencing a foreign invasion in Spain, and it is not only the Republican political regime which is in danger, but also the true independence of our country. Ah! But in order to extinguish the war, yes, in order to extinguish the war we have but one course of action which is to continue it. In order to extinguish the war we must defeat the rebels ... We engage each other in civil war for the essential unity of Spain. We engage in war for the integration of the national territory. We engage in war for the independence of our homeland and for the right of the Spanish people to freely determine its destiny. For that we fight ... Victory will be impersonal because it will not be the triumph of any single one of us; nor shall it be of our supporters, nor of our organizations. It will be the triumph of republican liberty, a triumph of that which we stand for. It will not be a personal triumph because when one feels the Spanish pain I feel in my soul, no triumph can be attained against our compatriots. And when your first magistrate raises the trophy of victory, surely the heart of every Spaniard will break, and it will never be known who has suffered more for the liberation of Spain. Manuel Azaña was born in Alcalá de Henares in 1880. A lawyer by training, he preferred writing fiction and literary criticism. Politically, Azaña was affiliated with the moderate Reformist Party of Melquiádez Alvarez until he founded his own Acción Republicanain 1927. When the Republic was declared in 1931, Azaña participated in the government as Minister of Defense. From March to October of 1931, he led the Republican government as premier and turned his attention to reforming the land tenure system, constructing more schools, hiring more qualified and secular educators, and curbing the clergy's influence in society. Azaña has been criticized for his lack of tact in accompanying his reform with scathing rhetoric. For example, after the burning of Madrid's religious buildings on May 10, 1931, Azaña was quoted as saying, "All the convents of Madrid are not worth the life of a single Republican." In 1934, Azaña was briefly imprisoned for allegedly being responsible for the revolutionary strikes that took place in the month of October. That same year, Azaña fused his Acción Republicana with other moderate parties to form Izquierda Republicana. This political party became the driving force behind the Popular Front coalition (which included the Socialists, the Communists, and other Republicans) that slimly defeated the right in the national elections of February 16, 1936. In October 1936, Azaña became President of the Republic, a post which he occupied throughout the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, he fled to Montauban, France, where he died of a heart attack on November 3, 1940. Ganar la guerra es impulsar la revolución, dice el Partido Comunista... [To win the war is to spur the revolution, says the Communist Party...]. . Partido Comunista. Ortega. Valencia. Control U.G.T. C.N.T. Lithograph, red and black; 79 x 72 cm. This poster consists of a proclamation made by the Central Committee of the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) with the symbols of communism-the hammer, the sickle and the red star-in the background. The poster was probably issued in the summer or fall of 1936, when the PCE launched a campaign to appear as a moderate party, committed to the Republic and to the respect of private property. The text on the poster reads: To win the war is to spur the revolution, says the Communist Party. The struggle to win the war is indisputably tied to the development of the revolution. If we do not win the war, the development of the revolution will be set back. It is imperative that this idea penetrate into the masses. We struggle to create a better society, in which such criminal and monstrous acts as the rebel subversion will be impossible. However, to all those dreamers or those who are irresponsible, who want to forcibly impose upon their own province or people experiments of 'socialism' or 'libertarian communism,' or of another kind, we must make them understand that all those experiments will crumble to the ground like imaginary castles if the war is not won, if we do not squash the military traitors, if we do not annihilate the fascists tormentors of our country, and if we do not eliminate the invading troops of German, Italian and Portuguese fascism from our land. A number of reasons led the Comintern to instruct the PCE to publicly defend Republican order at a time when other factions of the left had already begun the social revolution. First, the PCE was too weak to compete with the CNT, the UGT, and the Socialist Party. Since it could not gain a significant following among the working class, it directed its attention to gaining a following among the bourgeoisie. Second, it has been argued that Stalin sought to monopolize the leadership of the labor movements in each European nation. By implying that their priorities were inappropriate, Stalin and the PCE were discrediting the Anarchists, the Socialists, and their collectives in order to win the working class to the Communists. Third, the USSR sought to maintain an alliance with France, and her ally England, in order to rely upon them should Nazi Germany begin hostilities on her eastern front. In order to protect the alliance, the USSR had to appear as if it were safeguarding the Spanish Republic, rather than paving the way for a Soviet satellite in Iberia. Finally, as this poster suggests, winning the war before starting the social revolution had its logic, since the collectives would be wiped out if the Nationalists conquered the land, as indeed occurred. ¡Ayuda! A las familias de los combatientes del norte. Asturias. Octubre 1934-1937. U.H.P. [Help! The families of the combatants of the north. Asturias. October 1934-1937. U.H.P.]. Signed: ChechÉ. Rojo de España. Gráficas Valencia Intervenido, U.G.T. C.N.T. Lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 68 cm. Like the previous poster, this one refers to the campaign of Asturias, a region in the north of Spain that fell to the Nationalist army on October 21, 1937. A parallel was drawn at the time between the defense of Asturias and an earlier event of great symbolic importance: the revolutionary strike led by the coal miners of the region that had taken place three years earlier, in October 1934. This poster connects the events of 1934 and 1937 both through the inscription on the image and by calling attention to the monumental figure of the miner as the leader of the struggle. The determined expression of the miner, and the suggestion of movement created by the lifting of the left shoulder and the cropped arm, result in a powerful and heroic image. The call made in the poster by the issuing entity, the Socorro Rojo de España is for assistance to the families of the fighters, presumably in helping with their evacuation, or in donating food and other materials for their sustenance. The implication is that the determination of the miners in their new struggle, combined with their revolutionary efforts in 1934, make them worthy of assistance. Among the most dominant images in this poster are the initials UHP, which also serve as posts for the barbed wire fence on the lower part of the scene. UHP stands for Unión de Hermanos Proletarios, or according to some accounts, ¡Uníos! Hermanos Proletarios (Union of Proletarian Brothers or Unite! Proletarian Brothers). This was a slogan used during the war in an attempt to override the differences that frequently caused serious confrontations between the Communists, Socialists and Anarchists. For the more revolutionary segments of the population, this was a positive call, and thus its use in images such as this one. It could also have more negative connotations, as when it was popularly used to refer to goods confiscated abusively and illegally According to one witness, people sometimes referred to cars by saying, "that car is UHP." This meant that it had been confiscated and that its driver was not its rightful owner. This poster probably dates to October 1937, the latest date on the inscription. It must have been issued shortly before the fall of Asturias to the Nationalists on October 21. The author who signs the poster, Cheché, is not known. The composition of this scene is very similar to poster number 11, which was also put out by theSocorro Rojo de España, and is likewise inscribed "Asturias 1934-1937." During the war, propaganda posters were often designed with little direction, with artists responding to nothing but their own artistic impulse and political intuition. The similarities between these two posters suggests that in this case things were different. Either both artists were in contact, or they were following instructions, presumably from the Socorro Rojo. ¡Esto es el fascismo! miseria... destrucción... persecución... y muerte [This is fascism! Misery, destruction, persecution and death]. Socorro Rojo Internacional. Signed: Padial. Socorro Rojo de España, Comisión de Propaganda. Lit. S. Dura Socializada, U.G.T. C.N.T. Valencia. Photographic print and lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 71 cm. This poster was issued by Socorro Rojo Internacional. Established in Spain in 1934, SRI was one of the many international organizations that provided essential services and supplies to war-torn nations. A powerful denunciation of the fascists in Spain, this poster illustrates the agenda of the Russian-dominated Communists who wanted to support the Spanish Loyalists without appearing revolutionary. Fearing the increasing threat of Germany under Hitler, Stalin did not want to alienate democratic nations like England, France and the United States by helping to stage a revolution in Spain. Rather, Stalin hoped to use the Spanish Civil War to show these countries exactly what fascism meant, with the expectation that they would quickly become his allies in the international battle against the extreme right. In this poster, the elements of fascism are reduced to their most basic and brutal level. The image is organized around an imposing black swastika. In the top left quadrant of the swastika, a photograph of a poor mother trying to soothe her crying children is placed under the heading "misery." The portrayal of woman in her role as mother is a tragic image that was commonly used in loyalist propaganda. The quadrant directly to the right deals with the "destruction" caused by the rebels. As the photograph of statues reduced to rubble suggests, the massive aerial bombardment during the war damaged a number of Spain's monuments, despite efforts to protect them. A common accusation made by the Loyalists was that rebel troops intentionally bombed some of Spain's most valued treasures, such as the Prado Museum and the National Library. The last two sections of the poster refer to the tremendous injury and loss of life experienced during the war. The "persecution" of prisoners who are being marched down the street with raised arms and the "death" of Spaniards whose blood flows on the cobblestone street alludes to the tragic ending of the fascist nightmare. By utilizing rivers of blood that gush from dead bodies and form pools at the bottom of the poster, the artist emphasizes the physical suffering caused by Fascism. The caption at the top of the poster, composed of brush strokes that seem to have been dipped in blood, states simply the artist's message: "This is Fascism!" By incorporating actual photographs from the war, Antonio López Padial, the artist who designed this poster, created a powerful anti-Fascist image. Little is known about Padial except that he worked for Socorro Rojo Internacional during the war. El oso de Madrid destrozara al fascismo [The bear of Madrid will destroy fascism]. Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa.. Sindicato Profesionales Bellas Artes, U.G.T. "Helios" Artes Gráficas, Duque de Sexto 32. Madrid U.G.T. Lithograph, 2 colors; 100 x 70 cm. On September 18, 1936, generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola announced what they hoped would be the triumphant culmination of the military insurrection that they headed. The two generals planned to capture Spain's capital city of Madrid on October 12, 1936. When this date came and went without the predicted invasion, a handful of confident madrileños celebrated by placing a fully set table and chairs on the Gran Vía, the main avenue in Madrid, with a placecard that read "Reserved for General Mola." Although Franco's forces did not achieve their October goal, they quickly set about organizing a new offensive for November 7. Certain that taking the capital would be an easy task, the rebels sent out newspaper stories about the fall of Madrid to foreign correspondents, leaving only a few blanks for minor details. In their mind, the victory was already won. As this poster suggests, the many Spaniards who organized the defense of the capital against the rebel invasion hoped that the struggle to save Madrid would not only signal the end of Franco's rebellion but would also be the decisive moment in the defeat of Fascism. Huge streamers hanging across the Gran Vía announced that Madrid would be the "tomb of Fascism." As the poster's caption indicates, the large brown bear represents the city of Madrid, a common reference for Spaniards since the bear had been the emblem of the city since 1248. Thus, the bear's rending of the swastika represents the destruction of Fascism at the hands of Madrid. This poster, part of the effort of the Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid to maintain continued support for the defense of the capital, was published between November 31, 1936 and April 21, 1937, the dates of the Junta's existence. In the end, the inhabitants of Madrid could not prevent the devastation of their city or defeat Fascism; but their defense of the capital was more successful than anyone had anticipated. In fact, the government of the Republic was so concerned about the fall of the city that on the eve of the attack, it packed up and fled to Valencia. Before Francisco Largo Caballero, the acting Prime Minister, left Madrid, he met with General José Miaja and put him in charge of the city's defense. In the wee hours of the night, Miaja scraped together the few government officials who were left, combed the streets for volunteers, and quickly put together a defensive strategy. Male and female volunteers of all ages helped to build crude fortifications and dig trenches to prepare the city for the fight. Communist speaker Dolores Ibárruri pronounced her famous slogan, "¡No pasarán!" (They will not pass!), and groups of women marched through the streets chanting, "'Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, siete,/ Todos los hombres al frente'" (One, two, three, four, seven,/ All men to the front). Through the combined efforts of the newly formed communist Fifth Regiment, the more than 2000 members of the Eleventh International Brigade who arrived on the morning of November 8, Soviet strategists, and the numerousmadrileños who heeded Miaja's call for support, enabled Madrid to hold out against rebel troops for almost three years. Franco's troops finally marched into the city on March 28, 1939, just four days before the end of the war. Although in some sense the strenuous effort to keep Franco out of Madrid was in vain-after all, Franco was victorious in the end-the response of the poet Antonio Machado to the question of whether Madrid would win alludes to the everlasting significance of the struggle: "Will Madrid triumph? It has already won a thousand times, that is to say a thousand times it has earned it." What are you doing to prevent this? Madrid. Ministerio de Propaganda. Halftone, black & white, orange; 80 x 56 cm. In November 1936, rebel troops began a relentless assault on Spain's capital city. The fact that a rebel victory did not occur in Madrid when insurgent forces first attacked the city was a major setback for Franco's coup d'état. The failure to conquer the capital of Spain until the very last days of the war created a significant rallying point for loyalist forces. Images of the tragedies of Madrid's struggle were portrayed in propaganda pamphlets and posters in an attempt to rally support on both the national and international levels. This poster, which was printed in Spanish, French, and English, is an example of this desire to shape international public opinion and galvanize support. The ominous planes and the crumbling building in the background suggest the reality of the threat to the people of Madrid. The portrayal of a woman and child in danger had a universal appeal that the author of the poster hoped would affect people of all nations. Despite the entreaty of Loyalists for foreign aid that is reflected in this and other similar posters, the Non-Intervention Agreement (NIA), signed by France and England in August 1936 and quickly ratified by twenty-seven other countries, was something of a barrier to international involvement on the Republican side. Nevertheless, Republican forces did receive aid from a number of foreign governments who ignored the stance of the NIA nations, notably Mexico and the Soviet Union. While the Loyalists would most certainly have been defeated long before 1939 without the support of Stalinist Russia, the cost of this aid was high. Besides Spanish gold reserves that were sent as partial payment for military equipment, the drive by the Communists to control the Republican war effort further disrupted the already fragile unity of loyalist forces. In addition to support from official government sources, Loyalists also received assistance from individual volunteers. Perhaps the most famous are the International Brigades, organized groups of foreign volunteers who came to save Spain from fascism. While the people most remembered for their participation in Spain during the war are famous intellectuals, such as the French writer André Malraux, the British journalist George Orwell, or the Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros, the majority of the volunteers in the International Brigades were working-class men and women. More than 35,000 people came from some fifty countries to fight in the war. Private organizations such as the International Commission for the Assistance of Spanish Child Refugees in Paris, the Washington Friends of Spanish Democracy, and the British Committee for Refugees from Spain in London were also a key source of foreign support. For example, in Great Britain, organizations planned everything from marches and socials to dances and street theater in order to raise funds for the Loyalists. The famous muckracking journalist and candidate for the 1934 California gubernatorial race, Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), also tried to encourage people to support the battle against Fascism in Spain. In 1936, Sinclair wrote and published, with his own funds, a short story called "No pasarán" about a group of American workers who traveled to Spain and arrived just in time to fight in defense of Madrid. Sinclair composed this work in order to induce Americans to aid Spain, either by joining the International Brigades or by making contributions to one of the many organizations raising funds for Spain. While there is no indication of the artist on this poster, some scholars attribute it to Augusto. There is little known about this artist, who seems to have done most of his work on posters for theJunta de Defensa de Madrid. The poster was printed between November 4, 1936 and May 17, 1937, the period during which the issuing entity, the Ministerio de Propaganda, was in existence. Que tu familia no viva el drama de la guerra: Evacuar Madrid es ayudar a la victoria final [Do not let your family live the drama of the war: To evacuate Madrid is to help in the final victory]. Signed: Girón. Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa. Rivadeneyra CO - Madrid. Sindicato Profesionales Bellas Artes, U.G.T. Lithograph, 3 colors; 100 x 69 cm. When Madrid was first attacked by rebel forces in November 1936, thousands of the city's inhabitants fled to safety. By the end of November, over 250,000 women, children and seniors-about one-fifth of the city's total population-had relocated themselves to safer zones in Valencia and Barcelona. When the fighting stabilized in December, this spontaneous and voluntary emigration slowed dramatically. In response, the government of the city, then in the hands of the Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, waged a campaign to encourage people to leave the capital. By depicting a woman and her daughter screaming while they look into the sky as if they see enemy bombers approaching, this image aims to convey the message that those not essential to the war effort should leave Madrid. The need to evacuate the city was dire for several reasons. First, the population was much larger than normal because tens of thousands of Spaniards had poured into Madrid in the early months of the war as the rebels moved northward through central Spain. As Madrid's inhabitants were forced to abandon large sections of the city due to fighting, this increased population pressure was made worse. Perhaps most important was the fear of high civilian casualties from the heavy bombing that accompanied Franco's attacks. Despite the dreadful living conditions, the propaganda campaign was largely ignored by residents of Madrid who continued to wait in ration lines to buy everything from bread to wood and who witnessed daily the destruction of their city and the deaths of their loved ones. In December 1936, the Republican government mandated that all inhabitants of the city who had arrived after July 19, 1936 and were not essential to the war effort must leave. A month later, the government called for a more complete evacuation by eliminating the date of arrival clause, so that even long-time residents of Madrid had to go. Even after these measures, only 5,000 people left Madrid daily. Contemporary explanations for the reluctance of madrileños to relocate included unwillingness to lose their homes and belongings, and fear of being separated from loved ones. In his memoirs, one contemporary recalls with frustration the resistance to the evacuation: "The display of heroism by the civilian population, sacrificing themselves futilely, bordered on stupidity." This poster was distributed between mid-December 1936, when the government of Madrid began its intensive effort to evacuate the city, and April 1937, when the issuing entity was dissolved. Little is known of the designer Girón, other than he worked for the Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid and the Ministerio de Propaganda. La aviación fascista pasa sobre la capital de la República. ¿Haces tú algo para evitar esto? Ayuda a Madrid [The fascist airforce passes over the capital of the Republic. What are you doing to prevent this? Help Madrid]. . Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa. Huecograbado Rivadeneyra, Madrid. Platinum tone; 90 x 65 cm. One of the major threats to the civilian population of Madrid during the siege of the city from November 1936 to March 1939 was the massive bombing by rebel planes. Contemporary observers estimated that more Spaniards were killed on city streets and in their homes from aerial bombings than at the front. The people of Madrid took refuge in caves, under bridges, and in the metro to avoid the bombs, causing one observer to refer to Madrid as "a blind city of frightened troglodytes." By depicting two young children huddled fearfully under a brick archway as they look up at the menacing sky above, the author of this poster hoped to make Spaniards sympathize with the horrific conditions in the capital and thus spur them to aid Madrid. The fact that the children are alone with no parent in sight makes the poster a more powerful appeal to the viewer, and is also a reminder of the large number of children who were orphaned during the conflict. In addition, by referring to the city as "the capital of the Republic," the artist suggests the larger significance of saving Madrid. This poster dates between November 31, 1936 and April 21, 1937 when the Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid was in existence. The experience of being under constant bombardment was something that many writers tried to capture in their accounts of the war. Louis Delaprée, the correspondent for Paris Soir, described how it felt to hear the enemy aircraft approach during the night: "Rustling noise, buzzing, thunder, in an impressive crescendo; it is the rebel aeroplanes ... Defenseless, we hear above us this deep and musical vibration, herald of death." Delaprée's reports became so impassioned that his newspaper refused to publish them. In his memoirs, loyalist Arturo Barea also recalls his reaction to seeing the victim of a gruesome bombing along a frequently bombarded street in Madrid known as Shell Alley. The terror apparent in Barea's recollection of witnessing a man's brains spread out in front of him is an indication of the horror that children and adults alike experienced daily. "Out of the corner of my eye I saw something odd and filmy sticking to the huge show window of the Gramophone Company. I went close to see what it was. It was moving. A lump of grey mass, the size of a child's fist, was flattened out against the glass pane and kept on twitching ... I felt nothing but stupor. I looked at the scrap of a man stuck on to the shop window and watched it moving like an automaton. Still alive. A scrap of human brain ... I was hollow inside, emptied and without feelings. There seemed no street noise in the void around me." ¡Acusamos de asesinos a los facciosos! Niños y mujeres caen inocentes. Hombres libres, repudiad a todos los que apoyen en la retaguardia al fascismo. He aquí las víctimas [We charge the rebels as assassins! Innocent children and women die. Free men, repudiate all those who support Fascism in the rearguard]. . Propaganda editada por la confederación regional de Levante. Ortega, Valencia. Control U.G.T.-C.N.T. Lithograph, 2 colors; 52 x 66 cm. Despite the somewhat amateurish quality of this image in comparison to many Civil War posters, it is an effective battle cry for action against fascism. As the red and black colors in the lower right-hand corner indicate, this poster was issued by the Anarchists. The frightened woman and child are the victims of the rebels, represented by a Nazi plane that is dropping bombs on Spain's eastern coast. The portrayal of woman as victim seems to have been a powerful way of garnering support in war-time propaganda (also see posters 17, 18, 39). By depicting women as mothers and spouses threatened by war, artists emphasized the menace that the rebels presented to the most basic unit of Spanish society. While this is the only kind of representation of women to be found in the posters of this collection, there are numerous examples of propaganda where women are portrayed in more active wartime roles, as brave militiawomen headed into battle or as workers on the home front, for example. More negatively, posters warned soldiers about female prostitutes who spread venereal disease or about gossipy women who would inevitably reveal important secrets about the war. As the variety of representations of women in Civil War posters demonstrates, the role of women in the war was not clear. On the one hand, the actions of women in the war era posed a significant challenge to their traditional role as guardians of the home. For example, the very prominent Mujeres Antifascistas, a coalition of women from a variety of leftist political groups, was formed with the mission of removing the Spanish woman from the state of ignorance to which patriarchal society had relegated her. In addition, in the first months of the war, Republican militiawomen were a common sight in Spain. Women like Lina Odena, Aida de la Fuente, and Rosario Sánchez fought valiantly in the war and became part of popular Republican mythology. Women were also essential as industrial and agricultural laborers, replacing men who had gone to fight in the war. On the other hand, the access to new roles did not necessarily mean fundamental changes in perceptions about women. Even within a radical group like Mujeres Antifascistas, there was a split between those who thought women should be fighting at the front and those who believed they should concentrate their efforts on the home front. In addition, milicianas, whose numbers dropped drastically by early 1937, often found themselves cooking, cleaning and doing laundry rather than fighting in combat. Manuela, a militiawoman who quickly grew tired of her secondary role, wrote to the female commander Mika Etchebéhäre in the hopes of transferring to her command: "I have heard that in your column the milicianas have the same rights as the men, that they do not wash the clothes and the dishes. I have not come to the front in order to die for the revolution with a kitchen cloth in my hand." The triumph of Franco's forces spelled the end of increased liberation and the reconfirmation of women's traditional roles as wife and mother. Colabora con el Socorro Rojo Internacional en su labor de ayuda al niño [Collaborate with International Red Aid and its effort to help children]. Signed: Padial. Socorro Rojo de España. Lit: S. Dura. Socializado U.G.T. C.N.T. Valencia Lithograph, three colors and halftone, black and white; 40 x 27 cm. Very little is known of the artist Padial. It is clear, however, that he was capable of combining photography with drawing and painting for Socorro Rojo Internacional's propaganda. In the photograph, a little girl peacefully enjoys a meal, presumably at one of International Red Aid's Children's Homes. In the background, a modern-looking villa overlooks a tranquil ocean setting; the sleek modernity of the villa suggests International Red Aid could safeguard children in places more suitable than the dilapidated cities. A rhythmic use of black, white, light red, and teal results in a serene and peaceful image. The poster appeals for financial support for these services that the International Red Aid offered children. The poster was released in Valencia through S. Dura, a lithography firm jointly collectivized by the CNT and the UGT, probably in late 1936 or early 1937, when many of the union chapters put aside their differences to coordinate their collectives. International Red Aid originated in the Soviet Union in 1925. The organization was designed to provide assistance to political prisoners and their families throughout the world. It first made its appearance in Spain after the workers' rebellion of October 1934. With the financial support of the Comintern and private donations, International Red Aid became one of the largest and most recognizable charity organizations of the Spanish Civil War: it transformed various buildings throughout the Republican zone into hospitals or clinics, organized a transportation network that facilitated getting medicine and provisions to soldiers at the fronts, and transported casualties from the battle fronts to its vast hospital network. International Red Aid also covertly aided communist sympathizers trapped in the Nationalist zone make their escape to the Republican zone. Aumentar la productividad de los campos y fabricas es aumentar la combatividad de los frentes [To increase the productivity of the fields and the factories is to increase the fighting capacity of the battle-front].Signed: Luna. Ministerio de Instrucción Pública, Dirección Gral. de Bellas Artes. Asociación de Obreros Litógrafos. Gráficas Reunidas, U.H.P. Madrid. Lithograph, 3 colors; 100 x 69 cm. Issued by the government of the Republic through its Ministry of Public Instruction, this image calls for an increase in the productivity of the land and the factories, which will result in an increased military capacity. The weathered peasant-fighter in the center of the scene is the target of the message expounded by the government, and may also be seen as an example of someone who is responsive to it. During the early part of the war, approximately from the summer of 1936 to the summer of 1937, the areas of Spain where popular resistance to the military rebellion had succeeded were largely controlled by workers' committees. The agrarian and industrial collectivization which these committees often imposed eventually proved unworkable and led to reduced productivity in most areas of the economy (among them grain, fruits and vegetables, all of which are represented in this image). To combat this situation, the central government and other institutions gradually began to call for a more centralized and ordered economy, which was seen as essential for winning the war. The Ministry of Public Instruction and its agency, the Dirección General de Bellas Artes, were among the most active institutions in the production of propaganda during the war, especially after Jesús Hernández was named to head the ministry on September 4, 1936. Like most of the posters issued by that Ministry, this one can probably be dated between the start of Hernández' tenure in early September, and the time when the government fled the capital for Valencia on November 6 of the same year. The author of this poster is Antonio Rodríguez Luna (1910-1985). Rodríguez Luna studied in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Seville before moving to Madrid in 1927, where he became an active participant in avant-garde circles. In 1932, he exhibited his work in the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid. In that year, and again in 1933, he was included in a traveling exhibition organized by one of the leading associations of artists in Spain, the Sociedad de Artistas Ibéricos, which was shown in Copenhagen and Berlin. He was also a part of other important groups of artists formed in Spain at the time, including the Grupo de Arte Constructivo, founded by the Uruguayan painter Joaquín Torres García in 1933. From 1933 to the outbreak of the war in 1936, Rodríguez Luna resided in Barcelona. In the fall of 1934, after the frustrated social revolution that took place in many areas of Spain, he begun to make public statements in favor of a socially conscious and revolutionary art.That same year, he participated in the first Exhibition of Revolutionary Art, which was held in Madrid. He also published drawings and prints in important left-wing periodicals such as El Mono Azul (The Blue Overalls), published a book of drawings,Dieciseis dibujos de guerra (1937), and exhibited his work in the Spanish Pavilion in the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937. After the war, he moved to Mexico and he continued his work as an artist, collaborating with the mural painter Siqueiros and with Renau, who was also in exile there. He exhibited his work in prominent museums and galleries throughout Mexico and the U.S., including an exhibition in the San Diego Museum of Art in 1967. After Franco's death in 1975, Luna returned to Spain. ¡Los fusiles para el frente! Un fusil inactivo es un arma enemiga [Rifles for the front! An inactive rifle is an enemy weapon]. Signed: Juan Antonio Morales. Ministerio de Instrucción Púlica. Dirección Gral. de Bellas Artes. Asociación de Obreros Litógrafos, U.G.T. Lito. Fernández. Lithograph, 3 colors; 100 x 70 cm. Two Gewehr 98 rifles are set against two chairs and take on the role of patrons in a cafe; on the table in the center of the scene are a large beer mug and two newspapers generically titled Noticias (News) and Diario (Journal). The image illustrates the inscription on the poster: the two guns are wasted by remaining idle instead of being used in the front. By depicting the guns as human figures, the artist calls attention not only to the inactive rifles, but also to those responsible for their improper use. This poster reflects a serious problem that occurred in Republican Spain during the war. Immediately after the outbreak of the war in July 1936, weapons were distributed to the civilian population. This drastic measure allowed the Republic to successfully hold back the military rebellion in many areas of Spain, but it also caused difficulties. Guns were sometimes ostentatiously carried in public as objects that conferred status upon those who owned them. As Hugh Thomas, describing life in Madrid at the beginning of the war, has put it: "Rifles were carried (wasted, rather) as symbols of revolution." This kind of behavior caused the government to campaign so that guns would be used exclusively for the war. The stamp on the lower left corner of this poster indicates that it was issued by the Dirección General de Bellas Artes, an agency of the Ministry of Public Instruction that was active in the production of propaganda during the war. Like many of the posters issued by the ministry, this one can tentatively be dated between early September, 1936, and November 6 of the same year, when the government of the Republic left Madrid for Valencia. The author of this image is the painter Juan Antonio Morales (Villavaquerín del Cerrato, Valladolid, 1909-Madrid, 1984). Morales divided his youth between Spain and Cuba before establishing his residency in Madrid in 1931. He studied with one of Spain's leading painters, Daniel Vázquez Díaz, and in the early 1930s developed a style close to Surrealism. At that time, Morales also collaborated with García Lorca in the theater group La Barraca. During the war, Morales fought on the Republican side and collaborated with leading left-wing organizations and journals. In 1936, he illustrated an edition of García Lorca's Romancero Gitano as well as the book Crónica del Pueblo en Armas by another of Spain's leading writers, Ramón J. Sender. He also designed propaganda posters such as this one and the famous Los Nacionales. Morales' style in these and other works produced during the war is remarkably varied: in this poster, he draws his inspiration from the language of cubist still-life compositions, while the poster Los Nacionales is a caricature. His illustrations for the books of García Lorca and Sender are more realistic and are probably inspired by the influential neo-classical style used by Picasso in the late 1910s and the early and mid-1920s. After the war, Morales was arrested in Alicante. He was court-martialed and was absolved in 1940. Libros y Periodicos al Frente [Books and Newspapers to the Front].Oficina de recogida Delegación de propaganda y prensa, Medinaceli 2. Signed: Espert. Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa. Gráficas Reunidas, U.H.P, Madrid. Lithograph, 4 colors; 105 x 76 cm. This poster advertises a book depository where residents of Madrid were encouraged to bring books and newspapers. The Office for Press and Propaganda would then distribute the materials to the soldiers at the front. The image is composed of a large open book with rose-colored pages which seems to levitate above a soldier wearing a havelock and cape. The soldier appears to be distinguished and proud of his literacy. This type of depiction was characteristic of Espert, the artist who designed this poster. Espert tried to convey the notion that learned or cultured soldiers are not only smarter, but better soldiers. Espert worked with Izquierda Republicana, and with the Committee for the Defense of Madrid. The poster was released in Madrid, most likely between November 31, 1936, when the issuing entity, the Delegated Committee for the Defense of Madrid, was instituted, and April 21, 1937, when it was dissolved. While most propaganda posters of the Spanish Civil War tried to pump up morale or denounce the Nationalists in some general way, this poster has the specific purpose of informing Madrid residents of the place to bring their books. The poster neither makes lofty claims regarding the social revolution nor states that literacy can defeat Franco's troops, but it is effective in suggesting what residents in the rearguard can do to help those who fight the war. The transportation of books, newspapers, and cartillas de combatiente (writing kits that included paper and writing utensils) to the soldiers at the front was a service offered not only by the Delegated Committee for the Defense of Madrid, but also by other charity organizations such as International Red Aid. These organizations sought to nurture the new reading and writing proficiency attained by the soldiers during the Second Republic's literacy campaigns and educational reforms. Contra el Espionaje. ¡Milicianos! No deis detalles sobre la situación de los frentes. Ni a los camaradas. Ni a los hermanos. Ni a las novias [Don't give details about the position of the fronts. Not even to your comrades. Not even to your siblings. Not even to your girlfriends]. . Ministerio de Instrucción Publica. Dirección Gral. de Bellas Artes. Acción Obreros Litografos. Lit: GAL. Lithograph, 3 colors; 100 x 70 cm. The Spanish Civil War gave rise to a new expression-the "fifth column," meaning a clandestine, subversive organization working for the enemy within a country at war. Its origin is attributed to a remark by the Nationalist General Emilio Mola: asked in October 1936 by members of the press how he was going to take Madrid, Mola replied that he would attack with four columns stationed outside the capital, and a fifth stationed within, by which he meant the sympathizers trapped behind enemy lines. Although it does not mention the term specifically, this poster is one of many produced by the Republic during the war, warning the population against the fifth columnists. The poster addresses itself specifically to the militiamen, whom the government viewed as unprofessional and unreliable. Indeed, in September 1936, just two months into the war, the socialist prime minister Francisco Largo Caballero ordered the militias to transform themselves into fully militarized units of the popular army. Both the Nationalists and the Republicans established sophisticated intelligence-gathering agencies early in the war. The communist-controlled Republican agency SIM, employed thousands of agents to gather information not only on the Nationalists but also on the political rivals of the Communists within the Republican camp. In the final days of the war, this agency became a communist political police force, engaged in torture and political assassination, adding greatly to the atmosphere of fear and suspicion in the declining Republic. The poster was produced by the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Information. Based on its reference to the militias, we can date the poster to the first months of the war, when these units were still active in the front lines. Milicianos! No desperdicieis municiones, víveres ni energías [Militiamen! Do not waste munitions, supplies or energy]. Signed: Mauricio Amster. Ministerio de Instrucción P£blica. Dirección Gral. de Bellas Artes. Asociación de obreros litógrafos. Rivadeneyra S.A. Madrid. Lithograph, 7 colors; 100 x 70 cm. At the beginning of the war, the Republican zone covered nearly two-thirds of Spain and contained sixty-six percent of the Spanish population. However, most of the country's grazing land and two-thirds of its wheat-producing area was in Nationalist hands. Although feeding the population was not an immediate problem, the Republican government realized that it needed to be frugal with its food resources. Furthermore, the signing of the non-intervention treaty in August 1936, prohibiting the sale of arms to the two belligerents, meant that the Republic also needed to conserve its munitions. This poster specifically targets the militias for their prodigality-observe the bullet used by the militiaman as an adornment to his cap. Ad-hoc fighting units formed by the anarchist and socialist trade unions at the beginning of the war, the militias had fared well in the early streetfighting forays against the military insurrectionists. However, the Republican government soon concluded that they were too undisciplined and inefficient to be used under regular combat conditions, and on September 15, 1936, ordered them to become fully militarized units operating within the popular army. This poster was probably printed in the early months of the war, before the anti-militia decree took effect. It was issued by theMinisterio de Instrucción Pública (Ministry of Public Instruction), through its Dirección General de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts section). In September 1936, the photomontage artist Josep Renau became the director of this department and transformed it into one of the Republic's most active agencies in the production of poster propaganda. The artist who designed this poster, Mauricio Amster, is undocumented. Aixafem el Feixisme [Smash Fascism]. Attributed to Pere Catalá-Pic. Comissaria de Propaganda de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Lithograph, 2 colors; 100 x 70 cm. In this poster, a foot clad in an espardenya, the Catalan sandal-is poised to stamp on a concrete swastika, a symbol of Fascism. The message is clear: although the Spanish worker appears vulnerable, he possesses the necessary strength to defeat the enemy. The cobblestone background evokes the streets of Barcelona where, in the first days of the conflict, the people's militias successfully resisted the military insurrectionists' attempt to take control of the city. This was regarded as a first blow against Fascism. While the poster recognizes this-observe the cracks already evident in the swastika-it now urges the worker to continue the struggle and "smash" the enemy completely. Although often attributed to Pere Catalá Roca, this poster is in fact the work of that artist's father, Pere Catalá-Pic (1889-1971). Catalá-Pic, an avant-garde photographer, experimented with photomontage techniques before the war and wrote a number of essays on the use of photography in propaganda. During the war he took an active role in the Catalan government's propaganda department (Comisaria de Propaganda), which was established on October 6, 1936. The Australian surrealist poet, Mary Low, recalled seeing Catalá-Pic's poster while in Barcelona in 1936. She wrote: "We stood outside the columned portico, in front of us a poster flapped in the rain-a foot in a Catalan sandal crushing a swastika with negligent, unquestioned strength." El Generalísimo [The Generalissimo]. Signed: Pedrero. Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid. Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa. Sindicato de Profesionales de las Bellas Artes, U.G.T. Rivadeneyra U.G.T. Madrid. Lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 70 cm The inscription on this poster, El Generalísimo, refers to General Francisco Franco (1892-1975). Franco was one of the most prominent figures in the Spanish military during the late 1920s and 1930s; on July 17-18, 1936, he was one of the leaders of the military rebellion that led to the Civil War. On September 29, 1936, he was made Head of the Government of Nationalist Spain, and two days later he took on the role of "Head of State." When the Civil War ended on April 1, 1939, Franco was the undisputed leader of the victorious Nationalist army. He remained Spain's chief of state until his death on November 20, 1975. During the nearly forty years of his mandate, Franco ruled in a dictatorial, occasionally cruel and unforgiving manner, and had a ubiquitous, paternalistic presence in everyday life in Spain. In reaction to the creation of a heroic figure of Franco by favorable Nationalist propaganda, this poster presents the generalísimo as a terrifying skeleton dressed in a cubist-style uniform inscribed with the Nazi swastika. The small effigies of the military, the capitalist and the armed clergyman that carry Franco's cape create an impression of servile dependence, and contribute to the frightening nature of the larger figure. The poster may simultaneously be interpreted as pointing to Franco's reliance on foreign aid (he is depicted as a German Nazi), and also on the quintessential conservative powers: the army, the wealthy capitalist, and the church. Little is known of Pedrero, the author of this scene, other than his activity during the war. He was a member of the Fine Arts Section of the socialist trade-union (Sindicato de Profesionales de las Bellas Artes, UGT), which was one of the most important organizations of artists active in the propaganda effort during the war. He is know to have designed other propaganda posters for theJunta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, the agency that issued this poster. This junta was a provisional government set up in Madrid on November 31, 1936; it was heir to the short-lived Junta de Defensa de Madrid, which was created after the government of the Republic fled the capital in view of what appeared to be its immediate fall to the enemy on November 6, 1936. The Junta Delegada de Defensa ceased to exist in late April (probably April 21) of 1937, when its functions were taken over by the municipal government of Madrid. This poster can therefore be dated between November 31, 1936, and the end of April 1937. Hoy más que nunca, VICTORIA [Today more than ever, VICTORY]. Signed: Renau, 1938. SubPro. Graf. Ultra, SA, Córcega, 220, Barna. Lithograph, 7 colors; 99 x 138 cm. This poster was issued by the Subsecretaría de Propaganda(Undersecretariat of Propaganda), an office of the central government which was headed by the renowned architect Manuel Sánchez Arcas. It was printed in Barcelona, where the government of the Republic had moved after leaving Valencia on October 31, 1937. The poster is an homage to the Republican Air Force, which remained loyal to the government to a larger degree than other sections of the military after the rebellion of July 1936. In the image, the planes in the "V" formation display the flag of the Republic on their wings. This is different from the red-yellow-red flag of the Spanish monarchy, which was used before and after the Republic and remains the flag of Spain to this day. Because of its close relationship with the Soviet Union, which supplied it with planes and provided training throughout the war, the Republican Air Force had strong communist sympathies. The poster may reflect the need to boost morale in Barcelona, which was heavily bombarded by the Nationalist airforces in the latter stages of the war. Born in Valencia in 1907, Josep Renau was one of the artists most heavily involved in the Civil War. In 1931 he became a member of the Spanish Communist Party (PCE), and in 1934 he was arrested for taking part in a revolutionary strike. On September 7, 1936, he was named Director General of Fine Arts by a fellow communist, Jes£s Hernández, who was Minister of Public Instruction in the government of Largo Caballero. Renau remained in that post until April 1938 and continued to be involved in the propaganda effort until he left Spain for exile early in 1939. As Director General of Fine Arts, Renau's duties included the safeguarding of the artistic heritage of Spain. He was in charge of evacuating from Madrid to Valencia the paintings in the Prado Museum, which were threatened by the bombings. He was also one of the organizers of the Spanish Pavilion in the International Exhibition held in Paris in 1937, where he was instrumental in securing Picasso's commission to paint a mural for the pavilion, which resulted in Guernica. Renau was also an important force behind the conferring upon Picasso of the largely symbolic appointment as director of the Prado Museum. During the war, Renau designed numerous posters; as an artist, he specialized in painting and graphic design, and gradually became interested in photography. He was successful as a poster artist in the 1920s, winning numerous prizes and working on the design of billboards for the film industry. The gleaming image of the pilot in this poster may be a reflection of this aspect of Renau's career. In 1929, he was one of the first artists to use the technique of photomontage in Spain. He studied the work of John Heartfield, who became his favorite artist because of his active political stance and also because he favored photography over the more traditional medium of painting. On one occasion Renau said, "Yesterday Goya, today John Heartfield." In 1933, Renau participated in the first Exhibition of Revolutionary Art held in Madrid (which included works by other artists present in this exhibition: Monleón, Rodríguez Luna and PÉrez Mateo). That year he also founded an important organization of left-wing writers and artists, the Unión de Escritores y Artistas Proletarios (Union of Proletarian Writers and Artists). In 1935 he founded and directed the magazine Nueva Cultura, where in 1936 he published an important theoretical manifesto entitled The Social Function of the Advertising Poster. After the war, he was exiled to Mexico and became a Mexican citizen. He worked with the mural painter Siqueiros, whom he had met during the war in Madrid, on a mural for the new building of the Union of Electricians in Mexico City. In 1958 he moved from Mexico to East Germany. After Franco's death in 1975, Renau visited Spain periodically. He died in East Berlin in 1982. CNT, FAI, AIT: La Barrera Inexpugnable [CNT, FAI, AIT: The unbreachable barrier]. Sanz Miralles. Propaganda Edita por la Confederación Régional de Levante Lithograph, 3 colors; 161 x 108 cm. In this image (c. 1936), the acronyms of three prominent anarcho-syndicalist political organizations are stacked on top of each other as an impassible barrier to advancing fascist or Nationalist troops that are standing on a partially obscured swastika. The letters of the acronyms are in black and red the prominent colors of the anarchist groups and the stacking of the acronyms emphasizes not only their strength to resist fascist troops but also their solidarity and unity. The sun in the background may be rising behind the acronyms suggesting a new dawn of the political rule of these groups the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI), and the Asociación Internacional de Trabajadores (AIT). The CNT was organized in 1911 and soon became the largest group under the AIT (International Laborers' Association), an international workers organization founded in 1864. With similar interests in and programmatic statements of Marxists ideals, the CNT and AIT quickly recognized each other having convergent political and social aims. In the early 1930s, the CNT was banned under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. This action contributed to the emergence in 1927 of the FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica), which was known to be the anarchist inner core of the CNT. In the years before the Civil War, some antagonism had existed between the CNT and FAI. However, as seen here, early in the war (c. 1936) they portrayed themselves as unified against the fascist enemy. As the largest labor union in Spain at the outbreak of the war, the CNT quickly took on a new role as an economic and administrative apparatus and became a driving force in the governance and society of Republican Spain. However, the political power of the organizations began to erode a year later when military authorities began to appropriate fiscal resources. The Valencian artist, Sanz Miralles, authored a few other posters during the war for the CNT and AIT, but he is not otherwise known. Una acción más y el fascismo quedará aplastado [One more battle and fascism will be crushed]. Osensi. CNT-FAI, AIT: Propaganda Editada por la Confederación Regional de Levante: Comité Obrero de Control, U.G.T. C.N.T. Lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 69 cm. This soldier is one of the defenders of Madrid as he stands behind a spiked wall labeled with the name of the city. His allegiance is clear. He is holding a magnet labeled with the acronyms of theConfederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and he is bathed in their predominant colors - black and red. The soldier is using a magnet to break apart an anthropomorphic swastika - the international symbol of fascism. The swastika is crying and is wearing a black crown, which may be intended to represent the royalist tendencies of many of those fighting for Nationalist Spain. In addition, the swastika is facing away from the soldier apparently in retreat. Additional cracks in the swastika and its tears indicate the weakness of the fascists - a stark contrast to the determined gaze and rooted stance of the defender of Madrid. This image strongly reinforces the claim of the poster that fascism in Spain is on the verge of defeat. Like poster 4 in this exhibit, the CNT and UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores) Workers' Control Committee, which operated in Valencia until the Republican Government moved from Madrid to Valencia in November 1936, produced this poster. Consequently, the poster can be dated to the period of the beginning of the civil war in 1936. No information is available on the artist, Osensi. Hay que dar el golpe definitivo: CNT, FAI, AIT [The final blow must be struck: CNT, FAI, AIT]. Sanz Miralles. Propaganda Edita por la Confederación Regional de Levante Lithograph, 4 colors; 100 x 71 cm. The conflict between Republican and Nationalist Spain is presented, in this poster (c. 1937) as a conflict between man and beast. A muscular revolutionary-painted red-approaches the fascist beast with an axe. The serpent appears to be gasping for its last breath as it reveals a tongue with the Nazi swastika at its tip. The revolutionary has his foot planted on the neck of the beast in preparation for delivering the final, decapitating blow to the fascist beast. The initials of the two anarcho-syndicalist groups, CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) and FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica), are present on the poster indicating their support for the war against Nationalist Spain. The AIT (Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores) appears to be an attempt to lend international credence to the efforts of the CNT and FAI. Yet, as explained in the caption for poster 4, by 1936, the AIT had fewer than 100,000 members and provided only a small amount of aid to Republican Spain. As the war progressed and Nationalist Spain continued to receive support from Germany and Italy, Russia eventually became involved in the conflict on the side of Republican Spain. Consequently, the Communists, as administrators of Russian aid, gradually took the reins of Republican Spain as the Anarchists became increasingly powerless due to the lack of international backing and clout such as the Communists possessed. The author of this painting is the Valencian artist, Sanz Miralles, who produced posters mainly for the CNT and the AIT during the war. He is not otherwise known with exception of a few other extant posters from the Spanish Civil War bearing his signature. Españoles por la independencia y la libertad de nuestra patria. 100,000 voluntarios! [Spaniards: For independence and freedom for our country. 100,000 volunteers!]. José Bardasano. Partido Comunista de España Lithograph, red; 100 x 70 cm This poster (1937) by José Bardasano calls for additional volunteers to fight for the Republican army using the language of "independence" and "liberty." The image depicts a battle scene with a soldier in the foreground holding the Republican flag and pointing toward the front. The soldier's gesture mirrors the message of the poster; both indicate that more soldiers are needed at the front. The red hue of the entire poster is a bold reminder that the image was produced by the Spanish Communist Party (PCE). Not surprisingly, calls for additional volunteers were common during the Spanish Civil War. Such calls were particularly prevalent among the smaller printed ephemera as well as posters. Surprisingly though, many of the volunteers for both the Republican and Nationalist causes came from international sources. In Republican Spain, foreign volunteers were often formed into their own brigade rather than fighting amongst the Spanish in the regular Republican army. Consequently, international brigades were a prevalent force in many of the Republican military engagements. Meanwhile, the policy of the Nationalist government regarding foreign troops was exactly the opposite with a preference for integrating international volunteers into the regular Nationalist army. The artist, José Bardasano (1910-1979), was the child of Madrid working-class parents. A largely self-taught artist, the young Bardasano was working as an artistic director in an advertising agency when war broke out in 1936. Already a member of the communist-controlled JSU (Juventud Socialista Unificada), Bardasano immediately established a workshop with two colleagues and produced numerous propaganda prints and posters for the Communist Party. In 1937, Bardasano and his wife, the artist, Juana Francisca, moved to Valencia, where they continued to produce propaganda posters. At the end of the war, Bardasano and Francisca spent some time in a French concentration camp, after which they took exile in Mexico. Here Bardasano formed the Mexican Fine Arts Circle with a number of other Civil War exiles and Mexican nationals. In 1960, he returned to Madrid. Bardasano is also the artist for posters 42, 53, and 94 in this exhibit. S.E. el generalísimo [His Excellency, the Generalissimo].Cañavate. Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid, Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa Lithograph, 5 colors; 112 x 80 cm This poster is one of a small group of posters that employ sarcasm and caricature in their depiction of the major figures and themes of the Spanish Civil War. Facundo Tomás, author of Los Carteles Valencianos en la Guerra Civil Española, estimates that posters using the techniques of sarcasm or caricature account for not more than 3% of all the posters produced in Republican Spain during the war. While the majority of these posters satirized the Nationalist Spain and its political figures, the policies and practices of the Republican government were occasionally fodder for the satire and caricatures of artists working for the various associations in Republican Spain. In this poster, the artist, Antonio Cañavate Gomez, has chosen General Francisco Franco, leader of Nationalist Spain, as the main target. Facundo Tomás explains that the central figure of the rider on the horse is reminiscent of the caballo de bastos (knight of clubs) that appears on Spanish playing cards. Consequently, the club that Franco clasps in his right hand is symbolic of both the caricature of him and of the violent and repressive nature of Franco's leadership. The caricature of Franco is also evident in exaggeration of Franco's body type - short and round. As Tomás explains Spanish artists often employed the artistic trope of having a horse mimic or reflect the characteristics of the rider. The most famous example, of this trope, is Don Quixote and his "horse" Rocinante. In this poster here, there is a metonymic identification of Franco with his horse that exhibits the same exaggerated roundness as his rider. The bombs falling in the background also echo the physical characteristics of the scene's central figure. Further interpretation can be made of the horse's smile. Once again, Tomás interprets the horse's smile as "sadistic and ruthless" in the sense that the horse participates in the atrocities of Franco, as the horse rears up to crush the anthropomorphic cacti with faces expressing suffering and fear, without losing its smile. Apparently, the cacti in the bottom left corner are representative of Franco's victims. As to Franco himself, several interpreters of the poster have suggested that the artist intends for Franco to appear affected and effeminate. In fact, Facundo Tomás suggests that Cañavate is attempting to portray Franco as a homosexual. It is a move that inverts the trope of manliness and strength for describing or portraying soldiers during the Spanish Civil War. Specifically, Tomás points to the feathers in Franco's cap, his large eyelashes, his rosy cheeks, the pleats on the cuffs of his jacket, the effeminate position of his body, and, even, the eyelashes and carefully brushed mane of the horse. In addition, Tomás notes that Franco and his horse seem to be chasing a butterfly (In some Spanish dialects, the word for butterfly, mariposa, is slang for an effeminate man or homosexual.) Other notable characteristics of this image of Franco are his pearl necklace with a cross and a picture of Hitler that appears among the medals on Franco's chest. In addition, the swastika on the horse's rump makes Franco's association with Nazi Germany abundantly clear. No tiréis los trapos viejos. Pues con ellos se fabricán telas de abrigo para nuestros defensores [Don't throw out those old rags! We can use them to make clothing for our defenders.]. Reinoso. Color; 66 x 45 cm. This poster is a call to the rearguard to provide cloth for the soldiers at the front. The main colors of the factions of the Republican government - black and red - occupy a prominent place in the image. The image shows a photograph of a soldier at the front being protected from dark clouds and a winter storm by a cloth. The red color of the cloth is symbolic of the revolutionary character of the Republican effort. The mobilization of civilians in Republican Spain in support of the war effort is a common theme in many of the posters and broadsides printed during the Civil War. The need for clothing during the winter months is an especially prevalent theme among posters geared toward the mobilization of the rearguard. During the winter of 1936-1937, the cold weather appeared suddenly prompting a sudden need for winter clothing. The winter of the following year (1937-1938) is remembered as being extraordinarily cold with a temperature of -18o C recorded at the battle of Tereul. Being in September of 1937, the Popular Front, the Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (SIA), Socorro Rojo Internacional (SRI) and city-based committees assumed control of the supply of clothing to soldiers fighting at the front during winter months. The artist is Reinoso. Other than this work, the artist is not otherwise known. The publisher of the poster is unknown. Por Las Armas - La Patria el Pan y la Justicia [To arms: country, bread and justice]. J. Cabanas. Departamento de Plastica, Servicio Nacional de Propaganda, lithograph, 98 x 68 cm This poster is one of the few nationalist posters in this exhibit . A hand clutching a rifle occupies the center of the poster as the message endorses military action in order to reach the goals of a secure fatherland, food for its citizens, and justice. Behind the hand is the symbol adopted by the Falange and Spanish fascists. The symbol is el yugo y las flechas (the yoke and the arrows) in which four arrows intersect with a yoke. Like the political groups on the revolutionary left, the Falange was fond of the color red and its revolutionary implications. Consequently, the symbol often appears in red and red is a predominant color in the poster. This particular choice of symbol would have been particular meaningful for members of the Falange and the Nationalists. The images el yugo y las flechas were created for the monarchs Isabel and Ferdinand, who ruled in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The first letters of the names of the two parts of the symbol, Y and F, correspond to first names of the two monarchs with Isabel spelled in the older style of Ysabel. In Spanish history, the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabel represented a unification of the two kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in which Spain as a whole was created. Thus, the overtones of monarchism and unity contained in this symbol would have resonated well with the Nationalist goals of repairing a divided Spain and returning to a more traditional form of governance. The artist of this poster is Juan Cabanas (b. 1907). Cabanas was the son of the impressionist painter Angel Cabanas Oteiza. In 1924, he moved to Madrid and studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (San Fernando School of Fine Arts). Two years later, he went to Paris where he discovered surrealism. He dabbled in surrealism both in the form of images and texts. Later in his life, he would destroy all of his surrealist works. During the Civil War, he made many posters for the Falange, which later became the state political party of Nationalist Spain. Eventually, he was named the head of the Sección Plástica de Prensa y Propaganda(Expressive Section of the Press and Propaganda) and theProtocol de Franco (Franco's Protocol). After the Civil War, in 1945, he traveled to Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile to study mural painting. Al front! [To the front!]. Carles Fontseré. C.N.T., F.A.I. Lithograph, 3 colors; 32 x 22 cm. The soldier on the poster is bathed in a revolutionary red light as the text proclaims: "To the Front!" Simple and to the point, this poster was undoubtedly a recruiting poster for CNT and FAI in the region of Cataluña in Republican Spain. Given that the CNT and FAI fell out of favor with an increasingly communist-influenced government headed by Juan Negrín and subsequently lost political power in Republican Spain with the disbanding of the Council of Aragon in September of 1937, this poster can be dated to sometime during the fifteen months of the Civil War prior to September 1937. The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) was organized in 1911 and soon became the largest worker's organization in Spain. The Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) was formed in Valencia in 1927 and was known as the radical, ultra-left inner core of the CNT. With its goal of creating a revolution modeled on the Russian Revolution of 1917, many members of the FAI or faistas were wary about the concessions the CNT made to the socialist government of Republican Spain. Faistas were also critical of the dilution of FAI revolutionary political goals as it and the CNT joined with other more moderate groups under the banner of antifascism. During the civil war, both the CNT-FAI fared well in the first year of the Civil War, the militia of the FAI became the Army of Aragon giving the FAI powerful influence in that region of Republican Spain. In addition, the CNT and FAI held effective control over the Antifascist Militia Committee. However, the tide began to turn for the CNT and the FAI, in particular, after a series of key losses to Nationalist troops brought criticism to the FAI militias. In addition, separatists and others members of the Antifascist Militias Committee began to combine the Army of Aragon with the regular Republican Army effectively depriving the FAI of its paramilitary identity and power base. Carlos Fontseré was a Catalan painter born in 1916. Little is known about his life before or after the Civil War. He was a founding member of the Sindicat de Dibuixants Professionals (Syndicate of Professional Painters) established in April 1936. In 1977, he wrote a short history of the organization as an appendix to a work on Republican Posters from the Spanish Civil War entitled Carteles de la República y de la Guerra Civil. During the war, Fontseré worked as an artist for the Generalitat de Cataluña, FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica), POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista), CNT, PSU (Partido Socialista Unificada), UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores) and SRI (Socorro Rojo Internacional).  Madrid, the "military" practice of the rebels. If you will tolerate this, your children will be next [-]. . El Ministerio Lithograph, 2 colors; 66 x 50 cm. This poster uses the image of a dead child to motivate the population of Madrid to resist Nationalist forces and Franco. Behind the child, there is a picture of a squadron of airplanes in the sky. The image serves as an all-too-familiar reminder to viewers that the new practices of indiscriminate bombing of cities led to the death of many civilians particularly children. The Republican poster makers took full advantage of this gruesome result of the Nationalist military practices to demonize and criminalize Franco, the Nationalists, and the support they received from fascist Germany and Italy. The text on this poster is English; however, there was another version with French text. The poster was produced c. 1937. Since the beginning of the Civil War when a Nationalist uprising was crushed, Madrid had been on the frontlines of the conflict with Franco and his troops coming close to conquering the city in 1937. After a particularly harrowing assault between November 15 and 20, during which Nationalist troops got closer to Madrid than another other time previously, the Republican fights were able to beat back Franco's troops. In response, Franco tried to break the city's morale through fear of aerial bombardment. Every night the city experienced thousands of civilian death from the bombardments until Madrid became nothing but a smoldering shell of its former self. Contrary to its goal of demoralization, the bombardments often had the opposite effect of steeling the resolve of those resisting Franco's insurgency. Ultimately, Republican Spain gave way to Franco's troops and a key element in the Nationalist victory was the superiority of air support that encompassed plans and pilots from Germany, Italy and Spain. More posters http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/visfront/catalog.html                                         A video of Spanish Civil War - Propaganda Posters