To Bury the Dead
by Ignacio Martínez De Pisón
Parthian, £8.99
No war or conflict in modern times has inflamed the passions of both ordinary people and intellectuals more than the Spanish Civil War. It was of enormous international as well as national significance. In this compelling account, Ignacio Martínez de Pisón investigates how the conflict between Franco’s Fascists and the Republicans was just one of the battles. He reveals the bitter faction fighting behind the lines and unlocks the hidden experiences and rivalries of writers and activists such as Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos and José Robles.
In a succinct but informative manner he documents the Soviet strategies, Comintern activities and the role of the Communist Party in Spain from the early 1930s to the end of the Civil War. Drawing on a very broad range of Soviet, Spanish and English language sources, including many only recently available, he challenges our understanding of Soviet and Communist intentions in Spain. He is clear that Stalin was intent on exporting a climate of terror from the USSR to Spain. With sometimes disturbing detail he expounds how the brutal execution and purges of anarcho-syndicalists and POUM leaders illustrate how much power the Soviet Union had over Republican institutions.
The arrest and execution of the academic left-wing activist Robles by order of the Soviets created a lasting rift between Hemingway and Dos Passos, who were previously close friends. Hemingway condoned the killing, as “necessary in time of war”, while Dos Passos, embittered by the killing of his friend, broke away from the Communist left and vowed to uncover the truth.
The biggest tragedy about this story is that the victims and executioners in Spain in 1937 shared the same central ambition: a socialist future and a strong desire to halt the tide of Fascism. But for the executioners this was not enough: the complete acceptance of Soviet orthodoxy and dogma was more important.
Pisón concludes by agreeing with the writer Francois Furet that “the genius of the Georgian was to have caught so many reasonable men in such a simplistic and formidable trap”. In the mould of George Orwell he is able to show through one murder that the Spanish Civil War was a betrayal not only by appeasement-minded Western nations but by those who were ostensibly “aiding” the Republican government.
Enrico Tortolano
