José Peirats Valls

José Peirats Valls

José Peirats Valls was born in Vall d’Uxó in the province of Castellón on March 15, 1908 and died in Burriana near his place of birth on August 20, 1989. Of working-class origins, he started working at age eight. He received some primary education at the Rationalist School of Barcelona and attended night school from 1924 onward. At age fourteen, he joined the anarcho-syndicalist movement. Although he baked tiles for a living, he studied independently and soon began writing. He published his first articles in the bulletin for the union of construction workers and subsequently contributed to periodicals such as Ética, La Revista Blanca and Tierra y Libertad. From 1934 until early 1936, he was a journalist for Solidaridad Obrera. He was schooled in journalism prior to this by Felipe Aláiz, who got him onto Solidaridad Obrera. During the periods that the censors prohibited the paper’s publication, he supported himself through construction work. 

In the interview that appeared in El movimiento libertario español, he described his activities in the years preceding the Civil War: “As a member of the CNT, I did a little bit of everything.” He addressed meetings and gatherings, served on committees, drafted manifestos, organized strikes and handled guns and explosives when the need arose. At congresses he represented fairly orthodox views within the movement. In addition to his work for the union and the newspaper, he was deeply interested in the educational work at libraries and ateneos and believed that the organization of the Libertarian Youth (which he co-founded in 1932) was dedicated both to defending social causes and to raising anarchist awareness. After the war he helped establish the Ateneo Español in Toulouse in 1959. He also wrote several plays and novellas. 

The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 1
The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 2
The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 3

The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 1

The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 1

SKU: 9781604862072
Author: José Peirats • Introduction by Chris Ealham
Publisher: PM Press / Christie Books
ISBN: 9781604862072
Published: 7/2011
Format: Paperback, ePub, PDF, mobi
Pages: 432
Size: 6 X 9
Subjects: Politics, History



The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 1

The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 2

SKU: 9781604862089
Author: José Peirats • Introduction by Chris Ealham
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 9781604862089
Published: 4/2012
Format: Paperback, ePub, PDF, mobi
Pages: 312
Size: 6 x 9
Subjects: Politics, History



The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 3

The CNT in the Spanish Revolution Volume 3

SKU: 9781604862096
Author: José Peirats • Introduction by Chris Ealham
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 9781604862096
Published: 4/2012
Format: Paperback, ePub, PDF, mobi
Pages: 296
Size: 6 x 9
Subjects: Politics, History

Praise

“José Peirats’ The CNT in the Spanish Revolution is a landmark in the historiography of the Spanish Civil War… Originally published in Toulouse in the early 1950s, it was a rarity anxiously searched for by historians and others who gleefully pillaged its wealth of documentation. Even its republication in Paris in 1971 by the exiled Spanish publishing house, Ruedo Ibérico, though welcome, still left the book in the territory of specialists. For that reason alone, the present project to publish the entire work in English is to be applauded.” —Professor Paul Preston, London School of Economics

“…this is a wonderful work and an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of the CNT and the Spanish revolution. Indeed, reading Peiriats work you see how much other historians (and other anarchists) have lifted from it in their books. It is great to finally have the work available in English.” —www.struggle.ws

“For those whose field of study is modern Spain, this is indeed an obligatory purchase. Given that this edition has been indexed and footnoted it may prove more useful to scholars than the original Spanish-language editions.” —Kate Sharpley Library

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