Entering Barracks

The building you're standing near today, the old Drassanes, was built to launch warships into the Mediterranean. In the summer of 1936, it launched something else entirely: a revolution.

On the night of 19 July, five military columns marched out of their barracks across Barcelona, convinced by their officers they were suppressing an anarchist uprising. The lie unraveled fast. The anarchists of the CNT had been preparing for exactly this moment for months. Buenaventura Durruti and Francisco Ascaso had informants inside the barracks. Neighborhood committees had barricade materials ready before dawn.

By 20 July, only the Drassanes and one other barracks still held out. Ascaso led the assault here, running behind an armored truck padded with mattresses. A bullet caught him in the forehead. He was one of the very few anarchist leaders who didn't survive the uprising.

His comrades pressed on. The rebels surrendered, and 30,000 rifles seized across the city were handed directly to the workers in the streets.

That evening, the anarchist leaders met with Catalan president Companys, who offered them a choice: take full power, or share it. They chose to share. Many historians consider it the greatest strategic mistake in the history of anarchism. Which is, perhaps, very on brand.