Ricardo Sanz García (1898–1986) was a leader of the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). When working wi ...

(CNT) during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. He led the

Durruti Column The Durruti Column (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Columna Durruti''), with about 6,000 people, was the largest anarchist column (or military unit) formed during the Spanish Civil War. During the first months of the war, it became the most recogniz ...

following the death of its namesake.

Early life and career

Ricardo Sanz García was born in Valencia in 1898. In 1916, he moved to Barcelona, where he worked in textiles, joined the

(CNT) labor union, and was imprisoned for two years. Sanz joined the anarchist action group

Los Solidarios Los Solidarios (“Solidarity”), also known as Crisol (“Crucible”), was a Spanish anarchist armed-struggle group founded in 1922 in Barcelona, as a reply to the dirty war strategy used by the employers and government against trade unions. ...

. To avoid detainment, Sanz went to France, where he smuggled weapons. During the 1930s

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

, Sanz joined the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and became a CNT leader within Catalonia. He organized the CNT militias at the start of the

. In November 1936, following Buenaventura Durruti's death, his former assistant Sanz came to lead the

after

Juan García Oliver Joan Garcia i Oliver (1901–1980) was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary and Minister of Justice of the Second Spanish Republic. He was a leading figure of anarchism in Spain. Career Childhood and family Joan Garcia i Oliver was ...

declined. After failing to capture

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, Sanz was interned in French and Algerian concentration camps. He lived the remainder of his life in France, where he wrote two memoirs. Sanz died in 1986.

Works

* ''Los que fuimos a Madrid: Columna Durruti'' (1969) * ''Figuras de la revolución española'' (1972)

References

Bibliography

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Early life and career

Works

References

Bibliography

Further reading