Remembering Atocha

Eddy Redmond and Kevan Nelson are representing the CPB in Madrid this week alongside the PCE (Communist Party of Spain) to commemorate the Atocha massacre in the city 43 years ago, and the 1939 execution of the "Thirteen Roses", who were women of the Unified Socialist Youth (JSU) and PCE fighting against Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

The Atocha Massacre, January 24th 1977

In an office located on 55 Atocha Street near the Atocha railway station in Madrid, specialists in labour law, members of the Workers' Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) trade union, and of the then-clandestine Communist Party of Spain (PCE) had gathered.

Armed with Ingram M-10 sub-machine guns, three assassins entered the building looking for Communist leader Joaquín Navarro, head of the CCOO's Transport Syndicate, which had recently called for a strike against the "Franquist transport mafia", denouncing the Sindicato Vertical official trade union. Failing to find him, they decided to open fire on those present, killing five and injuring four.

More than 100,000 people attended the funerals of the victims of the Atocha massacre which made them the first large left-wing gatherings to take place after the 1975 death of General Franco. Important strikes and a general strike on the day following the attack took place as signs of support for the victims.

The PCE was legalised a short time after the attack, the lack of riots among the funeral attendance was an argument for accepting the PCE as a trustworthy democratic party.

The Thirteen Roses

On the morning of August 5th 1939 thirteen women were shot dead against the walls of the Eastern Madrid Cemetery.
Nine were minors, because at that time the age of majority was not reached until twenty-one. Ranging in age from 18 to 29 they were charged with being involved and conspiring against the “social and legal order of the new Spain".

Further reading:
https://www.brh.org.uk/site/articles/thirteen-roses-43-carnations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Atocha_massacre