Ofensiva contra l’oblit, XVII Marxa d’homenatge als maquis

Within the framework of the “XVII Marxa d’homenatge als Maquis, Ofensiva contra l’oblit” (XVII March of Tribute to the Maquis, Offensive against Oblivion), various complementary activities were scheduled to the same march, talks, debates, concerts and the realization of a mural. As the talk, given by the historian Dolors Marín, was about libertarian pedagogy, the organization suggested that the mural, in one way or another, apart from the anti-Franco fighters, must have some reference to children and education. The collective “A les trinxeres” (Towards the trenches), organizer of the event, proposed to include as a tribute the quote of Jordi Pons Argilés.

Jordi Pons Argilés, alias “Tarántula”, was born into a working and peasant family in the town of Puigverd de Lleida. In September 1912 he joined the CNT and the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) of Lleida and became a member of the CNT secretariat.

Once the civil war was over, he couldn’t do anything but exile in France, although he continued in exile militant with the libertarian movements. He joined as a “maqui” with Massana’s group and began to make incursions across the border into Catalonia, where he would carry out various sabotage actions, mainly against electrical towers with detonators that they were carrying from France. The actions were carried out along the Llobregat river from its source in Castellar de n’Hug (Berguedà) till the city of Manresa (Barcelona), given that that time most of the textile colonies were concentrated in these 46 kilometres. The majority of the textile factories used to be run by families related to the regime. That is why many actions were aimed at pressuring or kidnapping members of these families.

A confrontation with the Civil Guard in Sant Salvador de Guardiola caused the group to disband towards Barcelona, ​​having to abandon weapons and explosives on the mountain. Jordi Pons and his partner Jaume Albana searched for a hiding place in a Valero barrack of Montjuïc neighbourhood. Due to the rage towards anarchism in Barcelona and the maquis, Jordi Pons marches in the Artigues neighbourhood (Badalona), at the house of Domingo Ibars Rosset, on the border with Sant Adrià de Besòs.

On the night of November 5, 1949, the police surrounded the house of Domingo Ibars Rosset, where Jordi Pons was hiding. While the police shrapnel the house, Pons took advantage of a moment of pause to surrender in exchange for leaving Pedro’s family alone. Adrovert Font, who was with them.

“Tarantula” was arrested together with other anarchist and resistant comrades. They were accused of military rebellion and the actions of the libertarian resistance, the edition of the Solidaridad Obrera magazine, the various armed actions, or the fact of being part of the Committee of the CNT in Catalonia. On the night of March 13, while the soldiers were taking their comrades in the courtyard to shoot them, the survivors imprisoned with them at that time would explain that, while the military was saying the names of the condemned in the cells, they answered “Long live the FAI”,”Long live the resistance”. On the night of March 13, “Tarantula” and five other companions were killed.