Ramón Liarte Viu

Spanish anarchist propagandist, anarcho-syndicalist, anti-fascist militant, autodidact, journalist and writer, born. Born in Almudébar, Huesca, his poor working class family moved to Barcelona whilst he was a child. During the Second Spanish Republic to become the general secretary of the Juventudes Libertarias of Catalonia. During the fascist uprising of July 1936, he was caught working in Jaca as a waiter and crossed the Pyrenees into Catalonia via Seu d'Urgell. He fought at the front in the Durruti Column and later in the 26th Division, becoming the editor of its newspaper 'El Frente'. In February 1937, at the Second Congress of the Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertarias (FIJL) held in Valencia, was appointed secretary of the organisation. Also in June of that year, following the plenary session of the Cataln Regional Committee of the CNT, he was appointed as its secretary, a position he held until September of that year. On July 21, 1927, he participated in the CNT-organised rally held at the Olympia in Barcelona, along with Federica Montseny, Francisco Isgleas and Joaquim Cortes, to protest against the events of the Hecho de Mayo 1937 and the the repression that followed, and defending the FIJL's opposition to the Stalinist counter-revolution. In February 1938, following the Second Congress, he was appointed Secretary of the Organización del Comité Peninsular of the FIJL and later made secretary of the Organización del Comité Peninsular of the FAI.

In March 1939, he joined the Comité de Coordinación y Defensa (Defence Coordination Committee) in opposition to the Consejo General del Movimiento Libertario Español (General Council of the Spanish Libertarian Movement; MLE). With the fascist victory, he crossed into France and was held in various prisons (El Templo, Fresnes, Roland Corvejones, etc.) and concentration camps (Vernet, etc.). In 1942, he managed to escape the Algeria camp at Djelfa. He then fought in the French résistance and participated in a failed attempt to invade the mainland via the Basque Country. He was also arrested during a clandestine crossing into Spain and held in Cuevas de Almanzora, Almería and Granada prisons. Once freed, he returned to France, where he helped rebuild the MLE whilst hodling various post in the moderate i.e. collaborationist wing of the movement. In 1951 he was delegate to the Congress of the International Workers Association (IWA), was secretary of the Subcomité pro España and was proposed as a potential minister in a possible Republican coalition goverment. In 1955 he replaced Miguel Sebastián Vallejo as Secretary General of the collaborationist wing of the CNT. In 1957, he was appointed chair of the Alianza Sindical de España designed to unite the anti-Francoist activities of the CNT, Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Sindicato de Trabajadores Vascos (STB). In 1962, he was made the Cultural Secretary of the CNT in Toulouse and went on to direct 'Solidaridad Obrera' between 1980 and 1982, following on from his editorship of 'España Libre', 'Esfuerzo', 'Estudios' and 'El Frente' at various times. A prolific author, also writing under the pseudonyms 'Rotaeche' and 'Rali', he wrote for various newspaper and magazine, contributed to and wrote numerous pamphlets and books, including: 'AIT: La Internacional del sindicalismo revolucionario' (AIT: The International of revolutionary syndicalism); 'Estudio de la revolución española' (A Study of the Spanish Revolution); 'Voces juveniles: Interpretación àcrata de nuestra revolución' (The Voice of Youth: Our Interpretation of the anarchist revolution; 1937, with others); 'La CNT y los pueblos de España' (CNT and the people of Spain); 'La revolución social española' (The Spanish social revolution; 1975); 'La CNT y el federalismo de los pueblos de España' (CNT and the federalism of the peoples of Spain; 1977); 'La lucha del hombre: Anarcosindicalismo' (The struggle of man: Anarchosyndicalism; 1977); 'La CNT al servicio del pueblo' (CNT in the Service of the People; 1978); 'Marxismo, socialismo y anarquismo' (Marxism, Socialism and Anarchism; 1978); 'La sociedad federal' (Federal Society; 1989); 'Fermín Salvochea "El libertador"' (Fermín Salvochea "The Liberator"; 1991); and 'Bakunin, la emancipación del pueblo' (Bakunin, the emancipation of the people; 1995), etc.

However, his most famous works are probably the 'Los pasos del tiempo' (The steps of time) trilogy - 'El camino de la libertad' (The Road to Freedom; 1983), '¡Ay de los vencedores!' (Woe to the winners!; 1985) and 'Entre la revolucion y la guerra' (Between Revolution and War; 1986) - a largely autobiographical account of the Civil War in which this fictional protagonist, Ramiro Rueda, travels the winding paths of Spanish history from the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera to exile.