Barcelona, 1893-1897

In 1893 a sequence of bomb attacks started in Barcelona that would continue into the twentieth century. Paulino Pallás Latorre (1862-1893), a Catalonian-Argentinian anarchist, started it in September, with the attack on general Martinez de Campos during a military parade. The bomb did not kill the general but his horse. Latorre was arrested and prophesied shortly before his execution: 'Revenge shall be gruesome!' On 7 November of that same year he was proved right. A bomb explosion in the Liceu theatre during Rossini's opera Wilhelm Tell killed 20 people and wounded many more. The offender was Santiago Salvador Franch (1862-1894), dealer in smuggled spirits. Many anarchists were arrested, anarchist periodicals were suspended, and martial law was declared. It took two months before Franch was seized and brought to justice. He showed no remorse.

On 7 June 1896 a bomb exploded amidst a procession during a Corpus Christi festival in Cambios Nuevos. Six were dead, 45 wounded. The response of the government caused even more noise than the bombing itself. Hundreds of anarchists, both Catalonian and French, were jailed in Montjuich and torured. Finally, five anarchists were executed but probably all five were innocent. Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was responsible for the torture. The leftist movement campaigned against 'the Inquisition of Montjuich'. The accounts of an eyewitness, the Cuban-Catalan Fernando Tarrida del Marmól, shocked the world. The Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo (1871-1897) was likewise impressed. He travelled to Spain on a counterfeit passport and found himself face to face with the prime minister in the thermae of Mondragon on 8 August 1897. His shot was fatal. Angiolillo is said to have addressed the wife of the dead man: 'I beg your pardon, Madam, I respect you as a lady, but I deplore the fact that you were married to this man.' Angiolillo was hanged on 20 August 1897.

Periodicals

L'Agitazione. Ancona/Roma 1897-1906 - IISH callno. Microfilm 2785
La Anarquia. Madrid 1880-1893 - IISH callno. Microfilm 603
L'Avvenire sociale : periodico settimanale socialista-anarchico. Messina 1896-1905 - IISH callno. Microfilm 2797
La Campana / Luis Bonafoux, Paris 1898 - IISH callno. Microfiche 3091
Caserio. Buenos Aires 1896 - IISH callno. Microfiche 446
Ciencia social : revista de sociologia, artes y letras. Barcelona 1895-1896 - IISH callno. Microfilm 655
La Controversia : periódico de estudios sociales. Valencia 1893 - IISH callno. Microfilm 611
El Corsario : órgano de la Federación Coruñesa. 1891-1896 - IISH callno. Microfilm 2639
El Despertar : periodico anarquista. New York 1891-1902 - IISH callno. Microfilm 5055-5056
El Eco de Ravachol. Periódico anarquista. Sabadell 1893 - IISH callno. Microfilm 647
El Esclavo. Tampa (Flo) 1894-1897 - IISH callno. Microfilm 2342
La Espana inquisitorial. Buenos Aires 1897 - IISH callno. Microfiche 558
Germinal : periodico anarquista. Buenos Aires 1897-1898 - IISH callno. Microfilm 5128
La Idea libre : revista sociologica. Madrid 1894-1899 - IISH callno. ZF 27079 + Microfilm 614-615
Liberty : the pioneer organ of anarchism. Boston 1881-1908 - IISH callno. Microfilm 1110-1113
El Oprimido : periódico comunista-anarquisco con suppl. La inquisición en España (IISH callno. Microfiche 650). Buenos Aires 1894-1897 - IISH callno. Microfiche 866
El Perseguido. Buenos Aires 1890-1897 - IISH callno. Microfilm 498
El Porvenir Anarquista. Barcelona 1891 - IISH callno. Microfiche 2795
El Porvenir Social. Barcelona 1894-1896 - IISH callno. Microfilm 657
El Productor : periodico anarquista. 1887-1893 - IISH callno. Microfilm 639-640 A
El Rebelde : periódico comunista anárquico. Zaragoza 1893 - IISH callno. Microfilm 638
La Revancha : periódico comunista-anárquico. Reus 1893 - IISH callno. Microfilm 650
La Revista blanca : publicacion quincenal de sociologia, ciencia y arte. Madrid, Barcelona 1898-1905 - IISH callno. Microfilm 1610-1625
Tierra y libertad : quincenario anárquicocomunista. Barcelona 1888-1889 - IISH callno. Microfilm 624
La Tramontana : periodich pólitich vermell. Barcelona 1890-1895 - IISH callno. Microfilm 2709

Archives

Max Nettlau inv.nr. 2893 Letter from the mother of Angiolillo to her son, 1897.
Max Nettlau inv.nr. 3150 Statements confirming the receipt of a sum of money signed by alleged anarchists, imprisoned at the Cárceles Nacionales of Barcelona (Montjuich). 1897.

References

La barbarie gubernamental en España. [Pref. de R.M. (R. Mella) y J.P. (J. Prat)]. (Brooklin 1897) - IISH callno. An 75/55
Les inquisiteurs d'Espagne, Montjuich, Cuba, Philippines / Tarrida del Marmol, Fernando. (Paris 1897) - IISH callno. An 74/7
Revival of the inquisition. Details of the tortures inflicted on Spanish political prisoners. Written by M. Nettlau. (1897) - IISH callno. Bro Sp 665/50
De schanddaden te Montjuich : de gruwelen der Spaansche Inquisitie tijdens het proces van Montjuich (Dordrecht 1900) - IISH callno. Sp 865/85
La sangre de Santa Águeda : Angiolillo, Betances y Cánovas / Frank Fernández. (Miami 1994) - IISH callno. 2001/5525