Sabaté: Guerilla Extraordinary

by Antonio Téllez Solá, Stuart Christie (Translator)

A new edition of the incredible story of the life, the actions, and the death of an anarchist guerilla. Sabat

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Spain, Biography, Spanish Civil War, History

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1974

Reviews

[Subvert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in Dutch. How amazing is it that people took the effort to translate and republish this book earlier this year? Much props to them.

I found this a quick and thrilling read that also taught me quite a bit of history. And not an unimportant history. Although it sometimes feels a bit too romanticized, the amount of sacrifice, militancy and urgency felt by Sabaté and his comrades is inspiring.

I sort of know the basic outline of the Spanish civil war, but not much about all the stuff afterwards. Of how Spanish anarchists re-organized in France during WW2, hoping the Allies would help them against Franco after Germany and Italy were beaten. Of how Franco's regime murdered hundreds of thousands after the war. And how anarchists continued the armed struggle despite the bad conditions. I know about ETA of course, but somehow didn't know about anarchists doing the same kind of attacks.

And the exploits by Sabaté as described by Téllez Solá are crazy. Spreading thousands of pamphlets by shooting them into the air with a self-made mortar through the roof of a taxi that drives around Barcelona. And of course all the bank-robberies to finance the struggle, the shootings and crazy escapes. It's a bit of a hagiography, but why the fuck not?

Plus interesting as well is the critique of the CNT leadership abroad that actually tries to stop him, doesn't facilitate the actions and actually slanders him in their communiques. Because they didn't think it was time for actions (or were afraid for the consequences and their comfortable committee positions). It's sort of a diversity-of-tactics debate, but then against the Franco regime. Téllez Solá's critique of the centralization-mania sounds convincing. And it does seem quite damning how the CNT leadership both during the civil war and afterwards continuously made mistakes and expelled dissidents from their ranks. It's interesting and raises questions of how even in the CNT there's a clash between the rank-and-file, militant minorities and the leadership. I do want to note towards the insurrectionary anarchists (that probably includes those that published this new Dutch version) that both the Friends of Durruti and Sabaté always stayed loyal to the CNT and considered its existence as an absolute necessity.

[clinamen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fairly enjoyable, though as far as histories of anarchist outlaws go it falls a bit short of animating the world is describes. Mostly just scene after scene of close calls/shootouts with cops and copious names and dates without enough time spent bringing these individuals to life. The part I find most interesting in any document of anarchist banditry/illegalism (and there is a seemingly minute but important difference) is the clash between those who refuse passivity and seek to attack authority here and now and those who insist on waiting for more propitious circumstances and/or sanctimoniously denouncing those who refuse to limit themselves to words or sanctioned modes of action. This book does a fairly good job of detailing the turgid rationalizations which many of the organs of Spanish and French anarchism went through to condemn Sabaté and his accomplices and their determination to stoke and unleash the fires of revolt no matter the cost, so I found it worthwhile. And even if such machinations don’t interest you, the author does a admirable job of unearthing the historical details of El Quico’s life of struggle and almost despite himself manages to paint a thorough portrait of an individual whose war against tyranny and subjection remains inspiring and impactful to this day.

[Juan Conatz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The description that Goodreads gives is this is "the incredible story" of Sabate. You could put it that way. Or you could also say that he was the Vin Diesel of Spanish anarchism. This biography reads like an action movie. Even that doesn't do it justice, because some of what happened to him and what he did just couldn't be made up.

[Βρόσγος Άντυ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ίσως η καλύτερη σκοπιά που έκανα ποτέ. Με θέα τη λίμνη Κουμουνδουρου και τα φωτάκια από τα πλοία να καθρεφτιζουν στη θάλασσα αλλά κυρίως με ένα βιβλίο για έναν άνθρωπο που δεν υπέκυψε πότε. Ελ Τσικο υποκλίνομαι.
Απλά συγκλονιστικό.

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 3 out of 5]

As important as I think it is to tell stories of fighters like Sabaté, this book is written pretty poorly. There's an unfortunate lack of background information that would give the characters life, and while the footnotes sometimes attempt to make up for this, they fail to give a fullness to the story. Much of this reads like blasé history, rather than the exciting tale of a self-styled revolutionary.

Additionally, the Ardent Press edition that I read contains a tremendous amount of errors, leaving me with the impression that the printing was rushed and that nobody even cared to read over the text before printing.

[karly · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was a really good read after reading Christie's "Granny made me an anarchist". It is a biography written by an amazing historian of the anti-fascist resistance in Spain. I liked the book a lot because it did a good job filling in the personal, political, and historical aspects of sabate's life. It's available via AK Press, in britain or the us. it's also rather inspirational.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping story, showing that the most powerful anarchist movement still produced exceptional figures after its sudden decline in 1936. A sad new era was entered but dreams of insurrection survived.

[R. Reddebrek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but engaging read about a chapter of Spanish history that is often overlooked. While the focus is on Sabate, the book does cover some important features of the period, the attempt by Franco to replace the organisations that were crushed by the civil war, the collaboration between the French and Spanish authorities making the fight for a free Spain much harder, and infighting and issues within the exile CNT.

It also reads at many times as heist movie with some daring and improvised schemes, shootouts, police stings and escapes through alleys and the countryside.

[Paul Billinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I’ve read. It tells the untold history of the anarcho-syndicalists during the Spanish civil war & Franc’s fascist regime. It tells the inspiring story of Francisco Sabate, and his dedication to the freedom of the Catalan & Spanish peoples and the people of the world. I highly recommend it. It’s a fun read so far as historical non-fiction goes.

[Joachim · Rating 4 out of 5]

amazing

[Julien Testa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Q

[Rog Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to own a copy of this but must have lost it.

[Nicole Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally romanticizes revolution and those involved in the Spanish Civil War, but fun to read just the same. Riot porn in text.

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting and it gives some pretty good information but overall it's too sentimental. It feels like reading a novel and not a biography.