Andreu Nin, POUM, and Stalinism

Sometime I would like to write an essay on the subject of the democratic left, Stalinism, and the Spanish Civil War.  For now, I'll note that this week is the anniversary of the murder oif Andreu Nin by the Stalinist apparatus. Below is a little about Nin, a couple of POUM posters, and some links.

A former member of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT Andreu Nin later became a founder member of the Spanish Communist Party. While in Russia he became a supporter of the Left Opposition and for a time Trotsky’s secretary. Nin broke with Trotsky in 1935 to form the POUM (Workers’ Party of Marxist Unity) with Joaquin Maurin of the BOC (Workers’ and Peasants’ Bloc). During the Spanish Revolution the POUM had some influence in Catalonia and Nin joined the Generalidad, the Catalan government, as minister for justice, but after threats from the Soviet consul in Barcelona, Antonov-Ovseyenko, Nin was sacked in December 1936. In June 1937 Nin and most of the POUM leadership were “arrested” by Stalinist agents and Nin was executed shortly afterwards.  (wikipedia)

There is an Andreu Nin Foundation in Spain, with a very large collection of documents, mostly in Spanish. One document in English is Wilebaldo Solano's biography is "The Spanish Revolution:The Life of Andreu Nin."


The Andrés NinInternet Archive has some items in English.

And, of course, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is about his experience fighting alongside the POUM.and Ken Loach's  film Land and Freedom tells of a group of POUM soldiers fighting in the war,