April first, all fools day, but it also marks another anniversary. April, 1, 1901, in Spain, Francisco Ascaso Abadía was born. Though his life was short, it was one of struggle, serving the cause of the ordinary people. He died on the first day of conflict of the Spanish civil war in Barcelona, (The following is from The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest) An important figure in both the Spanish anarchosyndicalist
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Labor Confederation, CNT)
and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (Iberian Anarchist Federation,
FAI) from 1922 until his death, Ascaso Abadía is associated with
Buenaventura Durruti and Juan García Oliver , fellow members of the
group Solidarity (Los Solidarios, later Nosotros [We]), who were
together nicknamed “the three musketeers.” Imprisoned in 1923 for the
assassination of Zaragoza's archbishop, Ascaso escaped, joining Durruti
in France and traveling to the Americas. They returned to Europe by
April 1926, and by 1931 Ascaso was back in Spain as one of the leading
radicals of the movement. Deported to Africa in 1932, he returned with
enhanced prestige, battling moderate forces both as an editor of
Solidaridad Obrera (Workers' Solidarity) and as secretary of the
Catalan CNT during 1934–5. Critical of the policies of the Asturian CNT,
he opposed alliances with political organizations. Ascaso supported the
formation of armed militia from CNT members and was at the forefront of
the street battles in the 1936 Spanish Revolution; he died on July 20
during the struggle for Barcelona's Atarazanas Barracks. SEE ALSO:
Abad de Santillán, Diego (1897–1983); Anarchism, Spain;
Anarchosyndicalism; Asturias Uprising, October 1934 ; Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).
