A Las Barricadas

A Las Barricadas - To the Barricades, front cover to the sheet music, designed by Toni Vidal, 1936

Antonio Vidal Torruella was born in 1909. He was a book illustrator – including the front cover portrait on the 1936 Spanish edition of Rudolf Rocker’s ‘Nationalism’ and made posters for the CNT, including La Barricada. He was also a writer and poet. He died in 1946 after being imprisoned in the Model and Montjuic prisons in Barcelona.  

A Las Barricadas is the anthem of the CNT

Lyrics in Spanish:

Negras tormentas agitan los aires
Nubes oscuras nos impiden ver
Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte
Contra el enemigo nos llama el deber

El bien más preciado es la libertad
Hay que defenderla con fe y con valor

Alza la bandera revolucionaria
Que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos
Alza la bandera revolucionaria
Que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos

En pie el pueblo obrero, a la batalla
Hay que derrocar a la reacción

¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!
Por el triunfo de la Confederación
¡A las barricadas! ¡A las barricadas!
Por el triunfo de la Confederación 

English translation:

Black storms shake the air
Dark clouds blind us
Although pain and death may await us
Duty calls us against the enemy

The most precious good is freedom
It must be defended with faith and courage

Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph
Raise the revolutionary flag
Which carries us ceaselessly towards triumph

Get up, working people, to the battle
We have to topple the reaction

To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Confederation
To the Barricades! To the Barricades!
For the triumph of the Confederation 

Antonio Vidal Torruella was born in 1909. He was a book illustrator – including the front cover portrait on the 1936 Spanish edition of Rudolf Rocker’s ‘Nationalism’. He was also a writer and poet. He died in 1946 after being imprisoned in the Model and Montjuic prisons in Barcelona. 

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The CNT was founded in November 1910, with a membership of 26,000 at a conference of workers societies in Barcelona and had its first national congress the following year. A general strike was immediately called in Barcelona and the CNT was declared illegal.

By 1919 there were 700,000 members. As the CNT grew, employers became more worried and hired armed thugs (pistoleros) to intimidate or assassinate union members.

The CNT took part in revolutionary strikes and uprisings throughout the period leading up to the 1936 Revolution and Civil War, including uprisings in Catalonia, Asturias and Andalusia. By 1937 the CNT had 1.5 million members.

From the start of the attempted coup in 1936, the CNT had a decisive role in events - pushing revolutionary land and factory collectivisation, but by May 1937 the Republican Government, under the influence of the Stalinist Spanish Communist Party (PCE), was reversing its achievements, suppressing the collectives, forcing militias to join the regular army or be disbanded and arresting militants.