Revolutionary History
The Asturian Uprising
Fifteen Days of Socialist Revolution,
by Manuel Grossi
The Asturian Uprising of 1934 is one of the forgotten episodes In the history of the working class. Alarmed at what they considered to be a fascist threat, the working class in Asturias seized power, and staved off the central government’s attempts to crush the revolution for 15 days.
Manuel Grossi, a member of the Workers and Peasants Bloc and a leading participant in the revolution, gives a vivid description of these events. He shows how the militant workers organised industry and food distribution, attempted to arm themselves, dealt with the middle class and with lumpen elements, and otherwise ran the areas under their control. It is not a glamorised account, and Grossi points to the problems that the working class encountered, as well as to its successes.
Isolated in the north-west corner of Spain, the uprising ultimately proved to be a failure, as government forces managed to crush the poorly-armed insurgents. Nonetheless, these 15 days of workers’ power showed how the working class can take control and run society in a humane and efficient manner.
The qualities shown by revolutionaries and the wider working masses during the Asturian Uprising came to the fore in Spain two years later when General Franco’s military rebellion provoked a revolutionary response, and have since been demonstrated by the working class in all corners of the world.
ISBN 0 9523648 2 4
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