Barcelona May Days

Barcelona May Days (Els Fets de Maig in Catalan, Los Hechos de Mayo or "May Events" in Spanish) were a period of civil violence in Catalonia, between May 3 and May 8, 1937, when factions on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War engaged each other in street battles in the city of Barcelona.

Clashes began when units of the Assault Guard (Guardia de Asalto) – under the control of police chief Eusebio Rodríguez Salas and under the influence of the USSR-backed Communist Party of Spain and its local wing, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) – attempted to take over an anarchist-run telephone building in Barcelona.

The Catalan Government and police suspected Anarchists were listening to their telephone messages. The telephone workers fought back, as holding the exchange was not only a matter of prestige for the Anarchists but also a strong-point in any struggle for power in the city, thus sparking a city-wide conflict. Five days of street fighting ensued, with anarchist workers and their allies (Friends of Durruti Group), supporters of the non-Stalinist Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), building barricades and exchanging fire with the guardias de asalto, stormtroopers and PSUC.

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) workers were eventually persuaded into a compromise by Juan García Oliver, amongst others. The Republican government sent 10,000 Assault Guard troops to Barcelona to take control of the city. The ultimate result of the battle was the further erosion of worker control of the city and the consolidation of government power over the major labor organizations in Catalonia, the CNT and its sister group, the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (known collectively as the CNT-FAI).

British author George Orwell describes these events, in which he took part, in his book Homage to Catalonia. Other first hand accounts include German anarchist Augustin Souchy who wrote of the May Days in his book The Tragic Week in May and the Swedish socialists Ture Nerman and August Spångberg who were also present in Barcelona and wrote about their experiences in their autobiographies. The events were also illustrated in the award-winning film Land and Freedom.