Autograph manuscript signed, written in blue ink on three sheets of white paper; numerous deletions and corrections."Si quelque part au monde le coeur de la liberté continue à battre, s'il est un lieu d'où ses coups nous parviennent mieux frappés que de partout ailleurs, nous savons tous que ce lieu est l'Espagne." ["If anywhere in the world the heart of freedom continues to beat, if there is a place from which its beats reach us more clearly struck than from anywhere else, we all know that this place is Spain."]
This magnificent text was delivered by André Breton on February 22, 1952 during the meeting organized by the League of Human Rights at Salle Wagram. The speech was later published in
Le Libertaire of March 6, 1952.
"N'oublions pas que le monstre qui pour un temps nous tient encore à sa merci s'est fait les griffes en Espagne. C'est là qu'il a commencé à faire suinter ses poisons : le mensonge, la division, la démoralisation, la disparition, qui pour la première fois il a fait luire ses buissons de fusils au petit matin, à la tombée du soir ses chambres de torture. Les Hitler, les Mussolini, les Staline, ont eu là leur laboratoire de vivisection, leur école de travaux pratiques. Les fours crématoires, les mines de sel, les escaliers glissants de la N.K.V.D., l'extension à perte de vue du monde concentrationnaire ont été homologués à partir de là. C'est d'Espagne que part l'égouttement de sang indélébile témoignant d'une blessure qui peut être mortelle pour le monde. C'est en Espagne que pour la première fois aux yeux de tous, le droit de vivre libre a été frappé." ["Let us not forget that the monster that still holds us at its mercy for a time sharpened its claws in Spain. It is there that it began to make its poisons seep: lies, division, demoralization, disappearance, where for the first time it made its thickets of rifles gleam in the early morning, its torture chambers at nightfall. The Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Stalins, had their vivisection laboratory there, their school of practical work. The crematory ovens, the salt mines, the slippery stairs of the N.K.V.D., the endless extension of the concentration camp world were approved from there. It is from Spain that flows the indelible dripping of blood testifying to a wound that may be mortal for the world. It is in Spain that for the first time in everyone's eyes, the right to live free was struck down."]
"Breton could not remain indifferent to international events. In Spain, Franco's regime maintains itself through police repression, but it cannot prevent a succession of important strikes, led by anarchist organizations that remain vigorous. In March, eleven leaders are sentenced to death. A campaign alerting European public opinion is launched in their favor. Breton speaks at the meeting organized at Salle Wagram on February 22, 1952. Citing the Barcelona strikes, launched on a supposed watchword of the Falange, he prophesies a total victory in time. The mood of the clandestine leaders announces revolt against economic misery, against fascism, a three-headed monster that first tried its claws in Spain." (Henri Béhar,
André Breton)
