Today marks the hundredth anniversary of the death of the anarcho-syndicalist leader Salvador Seguí, better known as Noi del Sucre, assassinated by hired gunmen on Cadena street in Barcelona, now swallowed up by the Rambla del Raval. A few days before, he had received an anonymous letter: “Gathered the elements of the Free Union, we have agreed to assassinate you and Pestaña, among others. This time none of you will escape, although you will be the first…”. The Free Union, made up of gunmen and former Carlists, with police and military support, was the bosses' response to the strength of the CNT and the spiral of violence that dominated the streets.
The murder of Salvador Seguí at only 35 years old, his great communication skills and his famous rally in the Las Arenas bullring in front of 20,000 workers whom he convinced to stop the Canadian strike after obtaining part of their demands, made him in a myth. A figure that has emerged at specific moments such as the Second Republic or in the transition, when biographies of Manuel Cruells and Josep M. Huertas Clavería appear, and that has been silenced during dictatorships or when anarchism has enjoyed less prestige. The historian Xavier Díez, author of El pensament polític de Salvador Seguí (Virus), has baptized him as "the most unknown of the known anarchists".
Salvador Seguí Rubinat (Lleida, 1887-Barcelona, 1923), son of a family linked to Tornabous, lived in Barcelona as a child. His father was a baker and he dropped out of school very early and worked as a painter. At the age of 15 he was already arrested for his union activities and in 1910 he participated in the constituent congress of the CNT, of which he was elected general secretary in Catalonia. Self-taught, a good reader and a better speaker, he became a charismatic leader. And chased. He went through different prisons, such as the Pelayo battleship, the Modelo prison, the Montjuïc castle and the Mola castle, in Maó, where he spent 16 months. He suffered several attacks, but he was never afraid, sheltered behind his corpulence, almost two meters tall and weighing more than one hundred kilos.
On the occasion of the anniversary of his death, the Salvador Seguí Foundation and the CGT, heir to the CNT, are presenting this afternoon at the Modelo prison in Barcelona a documentary (Salvador Seguí. Historia de un anarcosindicalista), directed by Gonzalo Mateos, and an exhibition itinerant, curated by Rafael Maestre and Cristina Escrivà. Also CC.OO. organizes at its headquarters in Via Laietana an exhibition about Seguí, confederal trade unionism and the eight-hour day.
Several studies have been published on his biography and his thought, but there are still many gaps. There is not even agreement on his nickname. Was it because he ate the sugar cubes when he worked as a waiter? Or why one day they recriminated him: "You look like a noi de sucre"? Mateos explains that barely a dozen photographs of him are known and he does not appear in any film or sound recording. For his documentary, he had to resort to the press and the testimony of experts. Seguí was a friend of Francesc Layret and Lluís Companys, but his correspondence was probably lost during the war. He did not have time to write some memoirs and he was always a man more of the oral word than of the written ones, so that his theories and his speeches have been known through his co-religionists and journalistic chronicles.
The only sure thing about the episode of his death is that he was killed by three gunmen shortly after seven in the afternoon on March 10, 1923 at the corner of Cadena and San Rafael streets. He died instantly, and his partner Francesc Comas, Paronas, two days later. Fearing a reaction from the anarchist world, a clandestine burial was forced, but his friend's burial, on March 13, became a huge demonstration of rejection, with an attendance of 200,000 people. The attack was never investigated. Andreu Farràs, in his recent book Roses de Foc de Barcelona (Edicions 62) says: “The gang responsible for both murders was paid by the employers. Among its members was Inocencio Feced. They were helped to flee by policemen under the direction of Captain Lasarte and everything was organized by Pere Màrtir Homs, who had already orchestrated the murder of Francesc Layret”. But at the time it was also commented that his death had relieved the most radical sectors of anarcho-syndicalism, who did not look favorably on his call for union unity or his rejection of violence. Xavier Díez does not believe in the possibility of an attack from his own ranks, although he acknowledges that there were professional gunmen who did not hesitate to change sides and there were continuous attempts to infiltrate the CNT.
The debates surrounding the Noi del Sucre also revolve around his defense of union unity with the UGT, his critical attitude towards the USSR in moments of cult of the revolutionary epic or his rejection of violence. He has also been controversial about a speech in which he said that the workers did not fear the independence of Catalonia and could adapt. Xavier Díez considers that “Seguí is neither pro nor against, but he denounces autonomism because he considers that the Lliga is on the side of those who use the army and the police to put an end to the CNT. He is a federalist, along the lines of Pi i Margall, believing in a state with minimal power and free and strong municipalities.
