Gaston Leval
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Gaston Leval (20 October 1895 – 8 April 1978) was a French
anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...
, combatant and historian of the Spanish Revolution.


Biography

Leval was born in 1895, by the name Pierre Piller in Saint-Denis, the son of a French
Communard The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards we ...
. During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he fled France to
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, in order to avoid
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
. There he joined the local anarcho-syndicalist trade union, the
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...
(CNT). In 1921, Leval traveled to
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
to attend the
3rd World Congress of the Communist International The 3rd World Congress of the Communist International (Comintern) was held in Moscow on 22 June–12 July 1921. The third official meeting of the Communist International included delegations from more than 50 different national structures and too ...
, together with the CNT's Spanish delegation. When he returned from the Congress, he argued that the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
had transformed the " dictatorship of the proletariat" into a " dictatorship over the proletariat". The rise of the
dictatorship of Primo de Rivera General Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship over Spain began with a coup on 13 September 1923 and ended with his resignation on 28 January 1930. It took place during the wider reign of King Alfonso XIII. In establishing his dictatorship, ...
forced him to leave Spain for Argentina, where he would live until 1936. Following the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, he returned to
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and joined the
confederal militias The confederal militias were a movement of people's militia during the Spanish Civil War organized by the Spanish anarchist movement: the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) and the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI). The CNT militias repl ...
. He was deployed to the
Aragon front The Aragon Offensive was an important military campaign during the Spanish Civil War, which began after the Battle of Teruel. The offensive, which ran from March 7, 1938, to April 19, 1938, smashed the Republican forces, overran Aragon, and c ...
, where he fought in the sectors of
Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
and
Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...
. In November 1936, he was sent to
Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
, where he was put on the war committee. There he reported strong local support for the CNT-FAI and popular distrust with the Spanish Republican government, which he claimed to have "systematically sabotaged" the war effort by failing to provide the city with weapons or ammunition. Leval then returned to Aragon, where he lived among the local agrarian collectives and reported on their activities. He wrote that labour was done collectively and agricultural produce was held under
common ownership Common ownership refers to holding the assets of an organization, enterprise, or community indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or groups of members as common property. Forms of common ownership exist in every economi ...
, with all inhabitants of the collective deciding on its distribution for consumption or for exchange. He described the Aragonese collectives as the first mass experiment in the distribution of resources " from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs", with some villages using a
local currency In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community curren ...
, while others had abolished money entirely. He likewise outlined the reorganisation of the industrial economy along the lines of
anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...
, in which different industrial sectors were federated together under one administration. Leval claimed that, in total, 75% of
smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...
s in Aragon had been voluntarily collectivised. In the summer of 1937, he reported on the forced dissolution of the collectives by the Republican authorities. He reported to ''
Le Libertaire ''Le Libertaire'' ('The Libertarian') is a Francophone anarchist newspaper established in New York City in June 1858 by the exiled anarchist Joseph Déjacque. It appeared at slightly irregular intervals until February 1861. The title reappeared ...
'' that " low politics" had been the main cause of the Republican military defeats. He decided to leave Spain and returned to France, where he was arrested for his desertion during World War I and sentenced to four years in prison. By the outbreak of the
May 1968 events in France May 68 () was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that began in May 1968 and became one of the most significant social uprisings in modern European history. Initially sparked by student demonstrations agains ...
, Leval claimed that the anarchist movement had reached a historic low point in both its numbers and theoretical developments. Leval died in 1978.


Selected works

* Gaston Leval,
Anarchists Behind Bars
, Summer 1921 * Gaston Leval, "Collectives in Aragon", London, 1938 * Gaston Leval, "Social Reconstruction in Spain: Spain and the World", London, 1938 * Gaston Leval,

,
Freedom Press Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house and Radical bookshops in the United Kingdom, bookseller in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom, founded in 1886. Alongside its many books and pamphlets, the group also runs a news and comment-based ...
, London, 1945 * Gaston Leval, "Ne Franco Ne Stalin", Milan, 1952 * Gaston Leval, "Collectives in the Spanish Revolution", Freedom Press, London, 1975 (originally in French, "Espagne Libertaire (1936 - 1939)", Editions du Cercle, 1971) * Gaston Leval, "", 1978


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links


Gaston Leval Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leval, Gaston 1895 births 1978 deaths 20th-century anarchists Anarcho-syndicalists French anarchists French people of the Spanish Civil War French syndicalists Historians of anarchism