“MOVIMENT IBÈRIC D’ALLIBERACIÓ”:

IBERIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT

Ona Peral Català

Countering Violent Extremism
Teacher: Hanga Horváth-Sántha
 Ona Peral Català

INDEX
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 3

1. Historical background ............................................................................................... 4

2. Definition: Ideological Outline .................................................................................. 4

2.1 The creation: ........................................................................................................... 5

3. Peak of activity .......................................................................................................... 6

4. Methods of action ..................................................................................................... 7

5. Decline and final dissolution ..................................................................................... 7

6. Main members .......................................................................................................... 8

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 12

Bibliography and webliography ...................................................................................... 13

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INTRODUCTION

Social movements have played an important role in history. Some have been able to
change their course and others have left a great mark. Within these we find both
peaceful and violent movements, each with unique characteristics and claims.

The Spanish civil war and the subsequent establishment of a dictatorship were events
that marked Spain forever. Sometimes it seems to us that this happened many years
ago, but these past lives very close to us. Since I was little, I have had great interest in
this historical period. My great-grandfather fought and died in the war and my
grandfather was born in the middle of it. In my family this was a recurring topic of
conversation, sometimes it was sought and other times it was avoided. These were
difficult times for everyone, and this is a movement born out of those needs.

There are many reasons why I choose this topic, amongst them my proximity to the
subject and moreover, the acknowledgement of the great importance of these groups
and their consequences for society. Society, as well as life, changes over the years. These
changes lead to reactions and cause the emergence of social movements. The Iberian
Liberation movement being one of them.

The unknown character of this group, which was vaguely known, was another reason.
Sine sometimes, we fail to look beyond the classics and focus on the best-known topics,
leaving aside other relevant aspects of history. I wanted to have the possibility to
contribute create new knowledge.

As I will advance later, one of the members of this group is characterized by being the
last one killed using the "Garrote Vil", the execution method of the Franco regime, noted
for being highly cruel and inhumane. The controversies regarding the arrests of the
members of this group also lead me to want to shed light on the matter and make known
who they were.

To conclude, these are the reasons why I decided to choose this topic. The body of this
work will be developed first, starting with an historical context, going through a more
detailed description, and ending with the analysis of its members.

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1. Historical background

The 20th Century marked a before and after in the history of many countries, Spain
amongst them. It was a time characterised by totalitarian ideas, crises, and many
conflicts.

When the Spanish troops destined in Africa revolted against the government of the
republic, a war broke out. From 1936 until 1939 the Spanish civil war took place. In it,
two sides faced each other, the Republicans and the Nationalists. The firsts were loyal
to the government, and their respective political party, the Popular Front, whereas the
Nationalists wanted to bring it down. The Republican side included various ideologies,
such as communism, anarchism, socialism, separatism, and mainly republicanism. On
the other hand, under the threshold of the nationalists we could find Falangists,
traditionalists, monarchists, and conservatists.

After a 3-year war, the nationalist side won and seized power. This would entail the
establishment of a dictatorship in Spain, which would last until 1975 under the
leadership of Francisco Franco. During the dictatorship, harsh laws were imposed calling
into question the exercise of rights and freedom of speech. In this tumultuous and
restrictive context, numerous resistance groups were formed, one of them being the
Iberian Liberation Movement.

2. Definition: Ideological Outline

The Iberian liberation movement was mostly, and it is still nowadays, an unknown group
outside of Catalonia. Its main characteristic was to be an anti-Franco and anti-capitalist
organization that sought to end the regime and change the economic system. They
would be defined as a Catalan left-wing political organization, with a communist
background, active between 1971 and 1973, based mainly in Barcelona, Spain and in
Toulouse, France.

This group differed from the others since their base was much more theoretical and
informed. They proposed an original alternative within the Spanish panorama of the
time. The roots of its theories were found in revolutionary currents of anti-Leninist

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Marxism. They specifically focused on little-known ideological ideals such as

“Situationism” and “Communism of councils”.

The so-called situationism appears from L’Internationale Situationniste (1957-1972), a

movement founded by Guy Debord, made up of artists and intellectuals, whose
objectives were to end the capitalist system. This ideology interrelates culture and
politics. It is based on deliberately creating situations that encourage collectivist
association. Following the same line appears the communism of councils, a concept that
arose in the sphere of the European communist left. Councilism is opposed to party
communism, and proposes the creation of workers' councils, it seeks that workers self-
organize themselves.

They considered themselves as a left-wing extremist anarchist group, but also as a

support group for the labour movement.

2.1 The creation:

This group has its beginnings in the labour movement in Barcelona. It dates back to the
1960s, when workers' ideas began to break with the traditional movement, distancing
themselves of the leftist organizations and beginning a path towards the configuration
of a workers' autonomy.

This group was officially formed in January 1971. Its greatest exponent was Oriol Solé
Surganyes, a revolutionary ex-militant of both the workers' and the Spanish communist
party. He was exiled in Toulouse, France. From a distance he managed to articulate
various groups. He focused on building a resident group in France and another in Spain,
located respectively in Toulouse and Barcelona. Its initial objective was to support the
struggle of the working class. In France he sought out young people with libertarian
ideals who were not afraid of acting. On the contrary, in Catalonia he searched his
followers in the Marxist groups, especially in the so-called “Communist Action”. They
were able to move from Toulouse to Barcelona thanks to a solidarity fund that provided
them with enough money. The first weapons were donated by veteran anarchists who
had kept them in storage.

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The group located in France was led by Oriol alongside with Jean Marc Rouillan. In
Catalonia the core was made up of Oriol's brother, Ignasi, and Santi Soler Amigó. As in
the vast majority of ideological groups, they wrote a manifesto entitled "The labour
movement in Barcelona." This one contained their main ideas and explained the aim of
their cause. The organization's meeting point was in La Vieille Taup bookstore, located
in Paris, where most of the texts that inspired the group came from.

They did not seek to be a vanguard group, much less to organize under the roof of any
party. Some of them were not directly part of the working class, and as such they did
not claim to be a central element but rather a support group for the struggle, since they
considered that the working class should organize itself. As mentioned before, this broke
with the classical Leninist model and came closer to the ideas of revolutionary Marxism.

3. Peak of activity

On March 25, 1971, Oriol Solé Sugranyes and Jean-Claude Torres were arrested by the
French police when they tried to enter Spain with a gun in a stolen car, they had robbed
printing machines. Solé was imprisoned in Perpignan, and Jean-Claude released with
charges. It was during the end of 1971 and beginning of 1972 when the ILM finally
decided to actively act. They first set up in Toulouse, where former exiled CNT1 militants
help them learn and taught them how to sabotage and steal. During these times, its
creator was in jail, despite that, the group continued to grow.

Following the release of Oriol Solé from prison in summer 1972, members gathered and
decided the future of the organization. It was back then when they decided to structure
the group in the so-called Grups Autònoms de Combat (GAC), which means
“Autonomous combat groups”. They separated their action methods, so they could
focus on the different activities. There was the "Exterior Group” group, which was

1 Definition -National Confederation of Labour: “is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which
was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). Historically, the CNT has also been affiliated with
the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (English: Iberian Anarchist Federation); thus, it has also been referred to as the
CNT-FAI. Throughout its history, it has played a major role in the Spanish labour movement.”.
Reference.: Wikipedia contributors. (2023c, marzo 15). Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederaci%C3%B3n_Nacional_del_Trabajo

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directly involved in the execution of armed actions, and the "Theoretical Group" group,
which was dedicated to the elaboration and dissemination of texts and pamphlets.

4. Methods of action

Their main actions consisted of armed activities, such as the robbery of banks to obtain
financing, and the recovering of printing materials and documentation that had been
confiscated. To carry out their aspirations, they focused mainly on two courses of action.
The perpetration of armed actions, and the massive diffusion of anti-capitalist
revolutionary literature.

They wanted to use weapons in order to fight against the repression, finance
themselves, and mainly to show the workers’ movement that a higher level of violence
could be exercised against the bourgeois. Moreover, not only did they use the stolen
money to finance themselves, but they also provided funds to strike committees and
retaliated workers. Their goal was to maintain and strengthen ties with the worker
platforms, since only with full support they would be able to fulfil their aspirations.

One of their main goals was to create a library accessible to workers, where they could
find revolutionary texts and speeches. They wanted to make this information available
for everyone and like this promote their ideology. To highlight their ideological position,
they wrote a text titled Revolución Hasta el Fin, which meant “Revolution until the end”,
and it was the most important political text of the ILM.

This period of active behaviour caused tensions among the members, giving rise to an
internal crisis.

5. Decline and final dissolution

On March 2, 1973, they carried out a robbery at the Banco Hispanoamericano, where a
bank accountant was seriously injured. This act was perpetrated by Salvador Puig Antich,
Jean-Marc Rouillant, Josep Lluís Pons Llovet and Jordi Solé Sugranyes. From then on, the
police created a special group to dismantle this gang. This moment was a before and

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after in the organization. The atmosphere was increasingly tense, and fears were
accumulating.

During the spring of 1973, Ignasi Solé was expelled from the group, and it stood out the
figure of a particular member, Salvador Puig Antich. Through these internal disputes, he
was the one who managed to maintain the group's unity.

Shortly after adopting this decision, the persecution of the ILM and its members began.
There were rumours of the existence of an infiltrator in the group, that provided with
information the police. In September, after the robbery of an office of La Caixa bank in
Bellver de Cerdanya, the police launched a strong offensive against the ILM militants. As
I mentioned before, one of the members had been resonating for a while. In this last
operation, they began the arrest of Santi Soler and Salvador Puig Antich, who was badly
injured itself and during the shootout killed a police officer. It was in this moment when
the definitive decline of the organization begins, most of them go to jail and the lack of
combatants made impossible for them to keep acting.

This last operation that gave place to the shooting of the members of the ILM had great
resonance. Despite leading to the definitive death of the organization, the struggle and
defence of its members was kept alive. The method of arrest was highly contested, and
some versions say that Salvador shot the policeman in self-defence.

One of the major differences presented by this last arrest was that when a policeman
died, the conviction of the militant was not only judicial, but Salvador Puig Antich was
sentenced to death for "Garrote Vil", the characteristic method of murder and
repression of the Franco era. Likewise, he was executed in March 1974, being the last
murdered of the regime.

6. Main members

Oriol Solé Surganyes was born in Barcelona, in the bosom of a middle-class family, he
had two more brothers. He was the son of the eminent geographer, Lluís Solé.

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Oriol was a Spanish revolutionary activist of first communist ideology, and later an
anarchist member and creator of the Iberian Liberation movement. He was a member
of the PSUC, later a member of the PCE, where he evolved ideologically towards
positions close to worker autonomy, anarchism and contacted the most combative
groups of the labour movement of the early 1970s through the Platforms of Workers
Commissions.

Later he lived in Toulouse, where he exiled due to the dictatorship, and it was there that
he participated in the constitution of the ILM after coming into contact with the young
Frenchmen Jean Claude Torres and Jean-Marc Rouillan.

In order to give a proper description of the members and its organic organization, it is
prudent to initially classify them by the two places of performance. In the following lines,
I will mention the main members. In addition to all of them, small actors were also a key
piece of the puzzle that contributed to making the actions possible. Although generally
it was characterized for being a small and familiar group.

Further on, I am going to mention the Amnesty law, which was a law promulgated in
1977 in Spain, which freed political prisoners and permitted those who were exiled to
return to Spain. It also guaranteed impunity for those who participated in crimes, during
the Civil War and in the Francoism. This was made in order to try to initiate a new
chapter and leave the discrepancies behind. Many members of this organization where
freed according to this law.

Organization in France:

In the cell located in France we find different main members; some were unique
members of the ILM and others were also part of organizations of a similar nature. The
most important were Jean-Claude Torres and Jean-Marc Rouillan. There is practically no
information about Torres, he is a character who has been characterized by staying out
of public life. On the other hand, we cannot say the same about Jean-Marc Rouillan, who
is a well-known activist.

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Rouillan was a militant of the far left extremism, founder and head of the armed group
Action Directe. During the 1970s it was when he participated in the ILM and in various
internationalist revolutionary action groups.

Organization in Catalunya:

The organization in Catalonia was made up of Oriol's brothers, Jordi and Ignasi Solé
Surganyes, together with Santiago Soler Amigó, Josep Lluís Pons Llovert and Salvador
Puig Antich. There is little to no information available of its members.

There is some acquired facts about Josep Lluís Pons i Llovert. He studied at the Milà i
Fontanals university in Barcelona, where he began to join the Joventuts Universitàries
Revolucionàries (English: revolutionary university youth). Due to it, he was expelled, and
later decided to contact the ILM to start being part of the Autonomous Combat Groups.
In 1973 he was arrested for the bank robbery and sentenced to 51 years in prison. In
1976 he managed to jailbreak during a mass escape of prisoners, and was captured and
imprisoned again. But in 1977 thanks to the Spanish Amnesty law, he was exonerated.

There is also some information about Santiago Soler Amigó. Soler was one of the main
theoreticians of the group and was arrested in 1973. Like many other members, thanks
to the amnesty law, he was released in 1977. Later on, he collaborated with the
libertarian magazine Ajoblanco during the transition and also with Solidaridad Obrera
(English: Labour solidarity).

And there is one last member of the organization and one of the most known characters
of it, which is Salvador Puig Antic, of whom I will make a psychological analysis using the
root cause model, to try to explain why he radicalized.

When we analyse Salvador’s life, we can see how he was born in the bosom of a large
family in 1948 and was the third of six brothers. When it comes to the micro level, his
familiar environment was pretty stable, in comparison with other radicalized actors. But
at the same time the size of his family made it more difficult for the parents to be there
for everyone. Both the mother and the father of Salvador were working people, who at
that time spent the day at work, but even despite that they could hardy make ends meet.

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His father Joaquín Puig had a past as a Catalan republican militant. He was a highly
educated person and an active member of the political struggle. During the Spanish Civil
war, he was sent to a concentration camp, when he was released, he returned to Spain,
where he was condemned to death sentence, but finally absolved. We can observe how
Salvador from an early age had an influence and a role model to follow. He grew up
accustomed to such stories and had a direct personal experience. This is what Salvador
had seen since childhood.

Throughout his life Salvador attended a religious school, however he never became a
religious person. One day, when he saw a classmate being abused by the teaching staff
he defended him and ended up being expelled. Here we can already observe a pattern,
his empathy with the most disadvantaged and his eagerness to help. He was always an
active person.

Finally, when he was 16, he started working, and attended night classes to get a degree.
It was there where he met the brothers of Oriol Solé Surganyes and began to be initiated
into the movement. They all became friends. He built up his social identity around the
militancy and political activity, and became involved in the Student Comissions, and
finally, later on in the ILM.

If we take a look at the macro level, we observe how he was born during difficult times.
The social environment of Spain back in the 50’s was a constant struggle to defend the
rights and freedoms, not only of workers but of all people. The establishment of the
Franco regime brought to the surface many struggles and discrepancies, which ended
up being forged into these movements. There was hunger and famine, people were in
need.

If we analyse all these factors and put them into perspective, there variables come
together, giving rise to Salvador getting involved in a far-left extremist group.

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CONCLUSION

As we can see this group meets many of the basic characteristics of extremist left groups.

If we collect all the data, we can observe how it’s a reduced group with fewer members.
They share a political vision, have a common sociocultural background, and similar
experiences, that lead to an akin personality. It is known for being an informal
organization were there was no hierarch. They took great care of security and acted
mostly from underground. They committed direct actions that didn’t need any specific
order, members had autonomy to perpetrate an action.

The vast majority of its members were people with studies, and strong ties to the
student movements. They came from educated families involved in political life.
Although some of their actions eventually ended up in people being injured, their
intention was to attack structures and not harm people.

The fact that they were not in favour of a rigid structure gave them a lot of flexibility and
enormous freedom of movement, but also allowed the weak points of their organization
to have a great impact.

This proves to us how certain social events can give rise to such movements. By deeply
analysing the reasons, we may be able to put these problems on track and solve them
before the situation reaches this point. Knowing the history is key to not repeat the same
mistakes from the past.

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Bibliography and webliography

Thomas, Hugh (1976). La Guerra Civil española. Edición de bolsillo (2011). Barcelona:
Grijalbo ISBN 978-84-9908-087-1.

Historia del Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación. (2023, 1 febrero).

https://www.portaloaca.com/historia/otroshistoria/historia-del-movimiento-iberico-
de-liberacion/

Navarro, P. E. (2019, 18 febrero). El meu company, Salvador Puig Antich. LA MIRA.

https://www.lamira.cat/persones/1121/el-meu-company-salvador-puig-antich

L. (2020, 2 noviembre). La crítica al arte y a la cultura del movimiento situacionista.

Fahrenheit Magazine. https://fahrenheitmagazine.com/arte/letras/la-critica-al-arte-y-
la-cultura-del-movimiento-situacionista

Col·lectiu Carlota Tolosa (1999). La torna de la torna. Salvador Puig Antich i el

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Comunismo de consejos _ AcademiaLab. (s. f.). https://academia-

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Moviment Ibèric d’alliberació (MIL). (2015, 4 marzo). Salvador, realitat o ficció?

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mil.html

Quinta, A. (1977, 2 junio). Se espera la liberación de Pons Llovet y Josep Massana. El País.
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Salvador Puig Antich. (2018). Real Academia de la Historia. Recuperated on the 18, April,
2023, from https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/45946/salvador-puig-antich

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