Federico Arcos

Raúl Carballeira

Since 1939, young anarchists in Spain have paid the price for resisting Francoism. Raúl Carballeira, a prominent figure in the anarchist underground, was one who paid the ultimate price when surrounded by police on Montjuich mountain in Barcelona.

Raúl Carballeira
(February 28, 1918 — June 26, 1948)

Bursts of shrapnel
mowed down your young body. 
But you still had a gasp of breath, 
a gasp of breath and a bullet; 
and your mind, like a rapid steed, 
galloping in the air,
on a hot June afternoon,
exploded under your own impact.

I cry out and I cry out with vehemence;
I cry out with vehemence, oh brother;
for never did they succeed
in enchaining The Idea
nor gagging The Word.
The word that expresses
the soul of the ideas.
We are a hammer of steel.
We shall continue hammering.
Each word, a blow; 
each blow, a spark; 
each phrase, a flame; 
and in fires of words, 
torches of The Idea
illuminating the darkness, 
we shall proceed on the path 
with the dawns of truth.