Buenaventura Durruti

Buenaventura Durruti was a famous leader in the Spanish anarchist movement.

He was born on July 14, 1896, in the Santa Ana neighborhood of León. Durruti was the second of eight children in his family. His parents were named Santiago Durruti and Anastasia Dumange. As a child, his teachers said he was mischievous but good-natured. However, a difficult event changed his life early on. In 1903, when he was six, he saw his father arrested during a strike. This strike lasted nine months and left his family with very little money.

As he grew up, Durruti worked with his hands. He decided to train as a mechanic when he was fourteen years old. He learned a lot from a master mechanic named Melchor Martínez. Durruti became a very skilled lathe operator. He also became a leader for workers in his union. He joined the Metalworkers' Union in 1913. Durruti did not like how some leaders ran things. He believed that socialism must be active to work. Because of his strong ideas, he often faced trouble with the law. He even had to flee to France in December 1917.

While living in exile, Durruti joined a group called the CNT. This was a large union for people who believed in anarchism. Anarchism is the idea that people should live without kings or masters.

Durruti was a very active member of this movement. In the 1920s, he joined a group called Los Justicieros. This group wanted to stop the unfair treatment of workers by the state. They even planned to target King Alfonso XIII. The police found their plan before they could act. Durruti had to escape to Zaragoza to continue his work. He spent much of his time reading books to learn more about his ideas.

In 1936, a big conflict called the Spanish Civil War began. Durruti became a very important leader during this time. He helped stop a military uprising in the city of Barcelona. He also organized a famous group of fighters called the Durruti Column. This group was one of the largest anarchist militias. They fought on the Aragon front to protect their land. While they were there, they helped set up a way of living called libertarian communism. This meant the people in those areas helped run things themselves.

In November 1936, Durruti led his group to the city of Madrid. He wanted to help defend the capital from enemy forces. On November 19, while fighting in the Casa de Campo park, he was hit by a gunshot.

Historians still argue about how he was hurt. Some think it was the enemy, while others think it was a mistake by his own side. His death was a huge loss for the movement. Hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Barcelona. Today, many people still remember him as a symbol of the revolutionary spirit.