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[OM] Re: Robert Capa negatives found (NY Times article)

Subject: [OM] Re: Robert Capa negatives found (NY Times article)
From: "Stephan Van den Zegel" <stephan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:53:55 +0100
Thanks all...

About Hugh Thomas's book, the content evolved from edition to edition with
the availability of sources (credit to an honest historian) : from a book
written by a liberal using mainly the communist or franquiste sources
available in the 60' (what I call the confiscators of history), to a more
complex approach when other more mixed sources became available.
Very "funny" to read how his evaluation of the military value of the
milicias evolved as he steps away from the communist sources (communist
saying : international brigade = good, organized and soviet controlled army
post 37  = good, all the others  = bad... GPU never existed ). He has the
same evolution concerning the scope of franquist side, from the carlists to
the phalangists...with Franco as a reactionary catholic in the middle...

Orwell was a milician of the Poum, who were independent Marxists more or
less in good terms (usually union members) with the anarchosyndicalist of
the CNT (1 million members in that union... not a marginal loony left
organization...but a great Union with an intense social and cultural
action). The Poum is not a trozkyst party... but looks and taste like one...
Trozkysts are said to have partially financed the movie "Land and Freedom"
even if the results is more red and black (anarchist) than red... for the
hidden side of the movie, you must look carefully at the first scene, when
the young niece climbs the staircase that leads to the uncle's
appartement... staircase of a british condo, with tags and graphs... one
only is readable, so fast that's it's almost subliminal and it says..
Anarchy for ever... (sort of a statement from KL)...

There is another movie, on the subject that's worth the viewing ;-) it's
"Libertarias", a movie about the "Mujeres Libres", an anarcho-feminist group
who was far ahead in a lot of fields...starring Victoria Abril as a
anarchist bookshop keeper (in itself a must) the movie is good but some of
the content and political meaning is specialist only (and very critical for
the anarchist movment main leaders... qui aime bien chatie bien).

Sorry to be a little long on the subject, but it was my thesis in sociology,
and I collected direct material, interviews and so on from survivors...
anarchist international fighters, militants of the CNT, and Pepita who was
one of those Mujeres Libres (at 16, she was a full time birth control
propagandist)...

Last but not least, Orwell and all those guys were not International
Brigadists (militarized, controlled by the communist, and paid... which
doesn't mean those guys were mercenaries) but member of international groups
related to the milicias... the international brigade is created in October
36, the international groups (international bataillon of the Durruti column,
Rosselli bataillon... ) were created as early as the 21 july 36 in the
morning... and milicians were not paid nor formally militarized. 

(In memory of Richard, who was injured in Madrid... Pietro who had a gun
taller than him and was later jailed by the French and send back to a
mussolinian jail... "Poupon" who was refused to go fighting on the front
because he was too old, so he smuggled weapons for the CNT instead... or
Pepita and Moreno.. their lives are not a roman, or a movie... but it's far
better than a roman and a movie)

S.




 

-----Message d'origine-----
De : olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] De la part
de Bernard Frangoulis
Envoyé : lundi 28 janvier 2008 12:06
À : olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Objet : [OM] Re: Robert Capa negatives found (NY Times article)

Thanks from me too Stephan.

If I may add a few references :

I think the "classical" English-language book on this period is "The 
spanish civil war" by Hugh Thomas.
There is also "Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell - much more 
personal of course, and if I am not mistaken he was on the side of 
the anarcho-syndicalists.

And also the magnificient film by Ken Loach: "Land and freedom". Very
moving.

Bernard

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