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Imagine that you are on your way to Cadiz from Madrid or Marbella for a holiday and have decided to go off the main route to see some of its charming little villages.
Benalup, a quieter sounding place located between Vejer de la Frontera (with its evocative name Alcala de los Gazules) and Alcala de los Gazules, is situated midway.
A beautiful, white village is surrounded by mountains under that cobalt sky. This little jewel of Old Spain seems to have been around forever.
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And it has. Even the Romans lived here.
But it wasn’t always called ‘Benalup’. Casas Viejas was the original name, but it became one of only a few settlements in Europe to change its name.
We need to go back a century when Cadiz was known to be a breeding ground for socialism and communism, unsurprising as the majority of residents lived on the bread line mostly as day labourers (‘braceros’).
Tens of thousands went to the extreme left and became anarchists.
When we say “non-acceptance” today, we are referring to people who do not accept organized society.
Between the two World Wars anarchists followed the Russian revolutionary Michael Bakunin and held a set of beliefs that included thinking locally and believing one day everyone would be equally.
Braceros led a life of misery. Braceros were farm workers who did not own land. They would gather in the morning outside the house of a local landowner hoping that he would hire the day to earn them a few pesetas.
Three out of every four desperate men might be taken up, unless the harvest was in full swing.
This meant that many people could only work for a few months of the year. They were starving, and relied on the generosity of their families and neighbours to survive.
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The reasons for refusing to hire a man often came down to personal animus.
Anarchism is a philosophy that calls for a shift in the status quo. It called for the abolishment of property. Communities should be small and grow their own food.
No bosses and no humiliating system of hiring or firing.
It is easy to understand why anarchism led by the local CNT trade union became such an appealing ‘religion’ to many braceros.
Casas Viejas – as Benalup was called – was one village where anarchism was rapidly starting to take root.
Enter Francisco Cruz, better known as ‘Seisdedos’ (Six Fingers), the dominant personality among the village’s anarchists (not their leader – anarchists don’t have leaders).
He attempted to organize the workers into groups, and peacefully petitioned for change.
Seisdedos, and his followers, thought that a change would come fast when, in January 1933 the anarchism group, based in Barcelona, called for revolution in Spain.
The date was set for 10 January 1933 when the Casas Viejas villager awaited the news that the revolution began in Jerez.
It was expected that a message would arrive from the famous sherry town, located 35 miles away. The message, which collaborated with Barcelona and Madrid to launch the uprising was expected.
Plans are in place.
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Seisdedos’ men would dig trenches on the two village entrance roads, using their shotguns. The anarchists feared that a Guardia Civil squad would arrive armed, and this would prevent large vehicles from entering.
By the morning of 11th January, no one had heard from them. It’s not surprising that no peasant had a telephone or a radio.
Could a person on horseback announce the Revolution to the village? It appeared not.
The would-be overthrowers of capitalism were jumpy, because Casas Viejas had its own Guardia Civil barracks – albeit with only four officers – and something would have to be done to neutralise it.
The villagers discussed the situation and assumed that the revolution has happened and that they should act locally.
Seisdedos, the men and their comrades marched up to the Guardia Civil and demanded that the guards surrender. Guardia Civil refused. A tense stand-off ensued, but at 2pm – no-one is sure why – the anarchists started shooting and two policemen were killed.
The word soon spread that the Revolution had actually been delayed and within a few days, a column Guardia Civil soldiers arrived from Medina Sidonia.
The anarchists were now under attack. They retreated into the cottage of Seisdedos at the edge of village.
It was followed by a indiscriminate slaughter.
Seisdedos, his wife and two children were killed by the Guardia Civil after they set fire to their house.
In the ‘rounding up’ which followed the day after, various villagers – some of them not even anarchists – were summarily executed.
This horrific crime made headlines all over the world.
Casas Viejas had a significant impact on the Civil War which broke out in three years.
The two sides – Right and Left – allowed emotion and resentment to replace tolerance and reason. In the incident, 26 people were killed (including one child and two women).
After the massacre of 1933, the tragedy of Casas Viejas hung heavy over the community. Residents and local authorities wanted to move on from the past.
In 1998, after many years of debates and petitions, the local council decided to officially rename Benalup. Residents had been seeking a new beginning and a more stigmatized identity.
The full name became Benalup-Casas Viejas, acknowledging its history while prioritizing the new, less burdened name – ‘Benalup’ being derived from an ancient Arabic settlement’s name, ‘Ben-al-Lup‘.
The second part of the title ensures that no one in the locality will forget what happened.
How do we remember the massacre today?
Today, local memorials as well as historical documentation are the primary means of remembering January 1933.
Benalup-Casas Viejas is the official name of this historic site. It serves as a constant and permanent reminder that it’s not forgotten.
The establishment of the Centro de Interpretación de la Masacre de Casas Viejas (Casas Viejas Victims Interpretation Centre).
It was built near the home in which Seisdedos’s family were murdered.
An interesting museum, it offers a ‘neutral, educational space to understand the socio-political context of Spain in 1933′, detailing the sequence of events during the three-day uprising and subsequent massacre.Visitors will enjoy the range of photographs, documents, testimonies, and visual aids to recount the story of the BracerosThe rise of anarchism and the brutal repression carried out by the Guardia Civil.
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