“IN BADAJOZ, THEY SHOT 2,000. IF MADRID FALLS, THEY WILL SHOOT HALF THE CITY” July 1936, and chaos reigned in the streets of Madrid. The Republican government, for so long attempting to avoid open war, was on the verge of destruction at the hands of Francisco Franco’s military coup. Fighting had broken out in major cities across the country, and for a moment it seemed as though the capital would fall to the rebels. Instead, it held out until the spring of 1939 thanks to the spirit of popular resistance. Communists, democrats and anarchists united against the Francoists, rallying around Dolores Ibarruri’s famous radio broadcast “¡No pasarán!” (“They shall not pass”) and banners reading: “Madrid will be the tomb of fascism!”
Popular resistance to fascism was far from the centre-left…
