THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR: THE PEOPLE RESPOND
July 19, 2023 -Durt Fibo
On this day -July 19, 1936 – the Spanish Civil War began in earnest when Prime Minister Casares Quiroga resigned after having refused to authorize the distribution of arms to workers and citizens who offered to defend the Republic against the Fascist/Falangist coup initiated the day before. Responding to the existential threat to the country by the Generals Emilio Mola, Manuel Goded Llopis and Francisco Franco, the working classes – led by the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI), and the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) – rose up to defend the elected government of the Spanish Republic. When Quiroga spurned their well-organized assistance, those unions declared a General Strike, which became a mobilization to fight off the Fascist armies marching towards them. Defending militias were instantly created and deployed after the CNT-FAI and the UGT took over armories and other sources of weaponry.