Anarchist Quotes
Anarchist Quotes

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Authors List


Abel Paz

Abel Paz: Champion of Anarchism

Abel Paz, born on the 12th of August in 1921, was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist and historian who primarily focused on writing about the Spanish Civil War and the revolutionary period leading up to it. Paz was himself an active participant in the Civil War, serving in a variety of paramilitary and political roles within the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo, Federación Anarquista Ibérica, and the Iron Column. He was later forced into exile in France following the fascist victory.

Throughout his life, Paz published numerous works including 'Story of the Iron Column' and the biography 'Durruti in the Spanish Revolution'. These writings have contributed greatly to the historiography of Spanish anarchism. His writings encapsulate the vibrancy and complexities of the Spanish libertarian movement during a period of intense social revolution. Paz dedicated his life to defending the relevance of anarchism and worker self-management, both through his activism and his prolific historical works. Abel Paz died on the 13th of April in 2009.


Date of Birth: 1921-08-12

Date of Death: 2009-04-13

Country of Birth: Spain

Political Ideas: Anarchism, Syndicalism

Quotes Available: 9



Quotes by Abel Paz

We won the revolution, what we lost was the war.
The hundreds of workers' associations organized during the period 1870-1900 and the tens of publications give ample testimony to the energetic anarchist activity designed to destroy bourgeois, state and religious influences among workers.
The revolution consisted in the fact that the workers became masters of the instruments of labor and did not falter in their management of the means of production.
Even in infancy, while a person is dependent on another, abuses are committed and slavery and tyranny exist. It should be the purpose of free schools to study the reasons for such a lack of solidarity, to draw the attention of the pupils to what they actually see.
Durruti had learned endless things during the months of civil war, but the main lesson that he received was a full confirmation of the working class's capacity to govern itself and the damage done by the committees' bureaucratic leaderism.
The revolution did not fail, it was defeated militarily. Perhaps with the passage of time it would have developed a paralyzing bureaucracy but we will never know.
Let us not lose time asking an imaginary god for what only human effort can obtain for us.
Let us not lose time asking others to give us what we can obtain ourselves.
If the Russian revolution was a victory, who won? The workers? No. On the other hand, the Commune of Paris was a great working class victory. Ours, too.


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